


Ties of a Heart

by beingzen



Series: Adventures of Magi [1]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Manga Spoilers, Multi, SinJaOC, Threesome - F/M/M, What do I even write here?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-22 22:30:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 41,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6096046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beingzen/pseuds/beingzen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ja'far's feelings definitely changed since he joined Sinbad and he made sure both parties involved would be aware of it. This brought huge changes and possibilities for his abysmal lacking repertoire of positive emotions. It would have been al lot easier if he didn't also have to deal with Sinbad's penchant for getting caught up in the most varied sort of adventures. Well, he did swore to follow the man and if the memories of their endeavours didn't bring a smile to his face, then the ex-assassin didn't know what could.</p><p>Spoilers for the end of Mariadel Trading Company.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kidnapped!

**Author's Note:**

> First published on 2013-08-27.  
> \-----  
> Sinbad: 16 (AoS, chapters 84-85)
> 
> Ja'far: 11 (AoS, chapters 84-85)
> 
> Judi: 11
> 
> Masrur: 7 (AoS, chapters 84-85)

 

_'If you don't have a place you belong to, I'll give you one. I'll become your way of life. So don't lie to yourself anymore. Therefore, become my subordinate!'_

The moment those words were spoken, Ja'far's heart stopped and restarted. The hand on his shoulder felt warm and safe and so unlike anything else his young mind had ever known that he didn't quite know what to do. It was from that moment onward that he, unconsciously at first, fell in love with Sinbad.

He didn't quite know what to do with all the shaking his normally firm and dexterous hands were doing, nor how to get rid of the butterflies in his stomach, he definitely didn't know what the hell he kept blushing around Sinbad for and seriously wondered where all the jealousy of the women Sinbad kept promising himself to was coming from. So while Sinbad and Mistoras decided to spend the night at the red light district, and with no small amount of stuttering, dancing around the question, "what ifs" and "hypothetically" and just pure mortifying embarrassment, he had asked Hinahoho about it.

The words 'You're in love!' made him seriously believe the blue haired Imuchakk had been drinking some strange Artemyra wine made from the venom of the snakes or something, but as the man explained himself further, also stuttering some when Ja'far seemed to be confused about the part feelings like love and respect played during sex, everything seemed to make sense.

'So, if I tell Sinbad about this, will my symptoms disappear?'

The fond look and the light pat on the head Hinahoho gave him were a very accurate answer for him.

_Shit._

Ja'far stored all the knowledge he acquired from Hinahoho in his head and pondered it over during their trip back to Narpolia, weighing the Pros and Cons of confessing and deciding that there really was no reason for him to hide such a thing. It concerned Sinbad after all.

Upon their return to Sindria Trading Company after the events with Drakon and the princess, Ja'far felt an unbearable uneasiness that made him unable to sleep. He decided to go for a walk when he noticed Sinbad's light was on. He was quickly granted access when he knocked and was invited to sit and have some tea. He wasn't surprised when Sinbad noticed his discomfort. He rather welcomed Sinbad's worry about him, somehow.

'What's got you like this Ja'far?'

'I'm not sure. I just can't seem to calm down.' Ja'far told Sinbad, racking a hand through his hair. 'The situation with Drakon and the princess doesn't bode very well. I mean, I don't think you're wrong to shelter them, you are that sort of person, after all, but I wonder if it will be okay.'

Sinbad smiled at Ja'far a fond smile that had a direct effect on the smaller one's heart rate, leading to an obvious blush appearing on his face. Now that he knew the truth about his symptoms, he couldn't ignore them at all.

'Is that really all that's bothering you, Ja'far?'

'T-There's…something else, actually.' He mumbled, half hoping Sinbad wouldn't hear it and he looked down at his cup of tea, steaming a delicious scented cloud.

'Huh? What is it?' Asked Sinbad, bending down to try and see Ja'far's face, his purple hair falling like silk down his shoulder.

'Do you remember when we met and you pulled me out of that "black monster thing"?' The "black monster thing" being the only description of what really happened in the dungeon that Ja'far was given by Sinbad.

'Yeah…'

'Well, I have been feeling quite…odd since then…' Ja'far felt his blush deepen and looked to the side in embarrassment.

'What do you mean odd?' Ja'far could tell Sinbad was getting truly worried about him by the tone of his voice and that caused him to get annoyed at his inability to confess his feelings towards Sinbad. After a few seconds of consideration, Ja'far decided to treat this like a band aid: do it fast and painless.

'I think I…no, I love you.' He said, finally, looking at the teenager in front of him with what he could feel was the biggest blush he'd ever donned.

Sinbad couldn't have looked more confused if he tried.

Ja'far didn't blame him for it at all. He knew he'd have to explain himself if he wanted to be taken seriously so he put his teacup back on the table and donned his "serious" posture.

'I know I'm a kid and all that, but I know I love you because I have never felt like this before. I feel tingles in my skin whenever you touch me…' at this Sinbad's hand retreated from his shoulder and Ja'far pretended not to feel the stinging pain in his chest at the involuntary gesture. 'I get weird "butterflies" in my stomach, they feel more like writhing snakes, really, whenever you are close to me; I feel as if I never want to be away from you and I would do _anything_ to see you smile all the time; I want to protect your stupid ass from all the reckless shit you do; I get jealous when you're looking at women because I want all your attention to be always on me…'

The silence that followed was pregnant with the sort of tension that deafens one's ears and turns paranoid the most analytical of brains. Ja'far watched in growing trepidation as Sinbad sighed into the palm of his hands and massaged his temples with closed eyes.

'Ja'far, you're an eleven year old ex-assassin who knew nothing about family, friendship, camaraderie, affection of even kindness. Surely you're mistaking your love towards me as romantic interest, but it's not. We're family, right?' The dungeon capturer finished his hypothesis with the friendliest of smiles he could have spared. A smile Ja'far could tell was forced even if Sinbad was standing on the eastern coast of Kou and he was standing on the western shore of Reim.

'This is different form my feelings for Hinahoho, Rurumu, Kikiriku or anyone else I have ever met, Sinbad. I don't imagine kissing anyone else on the mouth like Hinahoho and Rurumu do.' Then he added in a small voice, shy to admit. 'I researched all of my symptoms…and I talked to Hinahoho…too…'

The hearty laughter that fell easily from Sinbad's mouth startled Ja'far and made him look at the older boy. An open and sincere laughter on a face with eyes squeezed shut, tears collecting on their corners and eyelashes and a hand on a stomach. Ja'far could not have stopped the thought that Sinbad was truly handsome if he wanted. He put up an annoyed façade instead.

'Sorry, I can't stop myself from imagining you as you researched medical books and scrolls for the symptoms of love!'

Ja'far wanted to him. And kiss him. Hit him then kiss him. So he did. He punched Sinbad very lightly on the abdomen before his hands grabbed the front of his cotton shirt and pulled him down to close the distance between their faces, deliberate and conscious, yet nervous and clueless. His heart was drumming in his ears and in his throat, completely drowning all sound in his bloodstream and making him totally unable to breathe. All he could do was freeze with his lips tightly pressed to Sinbad's, not really knowing what to do next while he stared at the wide amber eyes right in front of him.

It took Ja'far a couple of (years) seconds to start panicking internally and finally release a completely shell shocked Sinbad while he sat back and fidgeted with his hands, waiting patiently for the other to regain his composure.

It took Sinbad a (century) minute to gather his bearings and his voice to be able to talk.

'Ja'far, what was that?' his brain was still far away, it seems.

'A kiss?' Ja'far supplied, not knowing what else to say as fears assaulted his mind and _how I could I be so stupid?!_ 'Do you hate it?' he scoffed at his own stupid question. 'Of course you do…this whole conversation is just causing you discomfort.'

'No! I mean…I…YOU'RE A KID!' Sinbad exclaimed loudly with a wide gesture of his arms, body language Ja'far had learned to associate with agitation.

'Yeah…physically I am. I am a child who works for the president of Sindria Trading Company who also happens to be a child, albeit older than me.' Ja'far argued, but finished his proclamation with a resigned sigh. He stood up and clasped his shaking hands together in a salute with a bow that hid his eyes under his bangs. 'I am sorry I caused you displeasure, but as an involved party, I assumed you would like to be informed. I guarantee this matter will not bring you any more trouble in the future, neither to any other comrades nor the Company. Have a good night, Sin.'

He did not expect this to hurt so much. A band aid never hurt him before! But the words he spoke to put his most important person at ease and the motion of his muscles as his brain commanded them to turn away and walk towards the door caused him pain unlike any wound or torture known to him. Each step seemed to lace unbearably tight knots around his heart and his throat felt raw as he forced himself not to sob, _not yet_. The tears scorched his face as they rolled down and he would have been proud of not just running out of the room to heed his desire to disintegrate out of the face of the earth had he not been concentrated in attempting to look at least composed enough to be left alone.

'Ja'far, wait!' Called Sinbad, the sound of his steps was rushed behind Ja'far and the smaller of the two felt the grip of the oldest on his arm pulling him to turn around. The white haired boy found no strength to resist the motion, but he kept his face down, his eyes squeezed shut under pure white bangs of hair, yet his shameful tears would not stop nor disappear and the sight of them provoked an exhaled "shit" from Sinbad followed by a tight hug.

In his Lord's embrace Ja'far gave up the herculean hold on his sobs, gripping with his hands the clothes on the strong chest instead.

'Shit, Ja'far. I'm sorry, please don't cry!' Sinbad begged. There was a sort of desperation to the elder's voice. 'What am I supposed to do, now? I…I don't…shit!'

'Y-You d-don't have to do anything, S-Sin.' Ja'far managed to answer between sobs, uselessly trying to clean his tears away. 'I t-told you I'll b-be the same ag-gain tomorrow.'

'Fuck, Ja'far that's not it at all.' Sinbad professed pulling Ja'far at arms' length by his shoulders and looking at him straight in the eyes. 'I mean…you're eleven! That's five whole years younger than me, you're technically still a child who should be out there playing with other children and I am…instead you're working for me. You're so…I mean, I…I shouldn't feel…the way I do…about you…at all.'

Ja'far felt his heart beat painfully strong against its painful bindings, his hold of Sinbad's clothes tightening further for lack of anything else to hold himself upwards with.

'Sin…'

'I am also in love with you Ja'far.' Sinbad confessed pressing the heel of his hand to his forehead with eyes squeezed shut. 'I'm sorry I can't stop myself from saying it. Not when not saying it is causing you to look like this. I wanted to give you a proper childhood, but I need you here. I need you so much…'

'Sinbad, I swear I will truly kill you if you're saying this out of pity.' Ja'far threatened but his face, far from angry and scary, portrayed the same kind of hope like the time Sinbad pulled Ja'far out of his misery.

Sinbad smiled that same fond smile he always smiled at him and just him, and he realised this for the first time at that moment. The smile that shone in his own face came undeterred and Ja'far hid his face, hot with a blush and the remnants of his tears, on Sinbad's chest, but the older teen gently grasped his chin and made him look at him.

'I promise, Ja'far, that I will devote myself to you.'

'That promise is hollow with how much you use it.' The younger one deadpanned, yet he felt the bindings of his heart release him and it beat so, so strongly now.

'I'm scared, Ja'far.' Sinbad confessed. 'I'm sure this is so wrong in so many ways and I'm taking away your freedom…'

Ja'far cupped Sinbad's face in his smaller, more calloused hands admiring the strong jaw, the brilliant amber eyes, the long dark eyelashes, the plump lips, the alluring blush across the high cheekbones and knowing that his own face must look like a mess with his puffy red eyes and a prominent blush. 'The only freedom I want is the freedom to walk besides you, wherever you may go.'

Sinbad almost didn't let Ja'far finish his sentence as he grabbed his head on both sides and kissed him. This kiss was sloppy, inexperienced and all lips. Their teeth clashed painfully a couple of times and Sinbad pressed too hard. But then Ja'far backed away and took control of the kiss. This time he gently massaged Sinbad's lips with his own, keeping touches faint. Sinbad was a fast learner and he quickly got the idea, imitating the pleasant actions, exploring what other things would make them feel good. He nipped at Ja'far's bottom lip while his hands snaked around the small waist.

When they separated, breathing hard in small pants, they touched their foreheads together, looking into each other's eyes and twin smiles spread across their sensitive swollen lips.

'We should probably get some sleep…' Sinbad muttered, brushing a white lock of hair behind Ja'far's ear.

The ex-assassin nodded with a hum, but neither of the two moved.

'Sleep here?' Sinbad asked with a small hopeful tone to his voice and Ja'far could easily pick up the almost nervous lining to the request. He answered with another nod and a hum.

Sinbad smiled. His hands traced a path up Ja'far's arms, to the back of his neck, sneaking under the hem of the light robe Ja'far wore on top of his sleeping garments and slowly pushing it down and off the lithe shoulders. In the same movement, the teenager held both Ja'far's hands in his, blew out the light and stood up, pulling the smaller male as he walked backwards towards his bed. They both stumbled a couple of times with the rug, but they laughed it off and they landed unceremoniously on top of the cotton bedspread.

'Only you would think walking backwards before your sight adjusted to the dark is a good idea, Sin.' Ja'far commented with a soft laugh.

But their eyes were adjusted to the moonlight that filtered through the white curtains of the open window now and they lay under the thin bed sheet, looking at each other's face, watching sleep slowly claim the other onto its calm and relaxing realm.

The next morning spelled disaster in bold, capital letters. All of a sudden the uneasy feeling Ja'far forgot all about in the arms of his lover seemed to suffocate him, gripping at him from all sides and seeping into his mind, urging him to _do_ something.

Throwing a dagger at Vitel, possibly killing him for his mistake, sounded like a _wonderful_ idea.

'Investment? Debt? Just what the hell did you go and do, ya bastard!?' The young about-to-become-ex-ex-assassin's temper rose, opening a hole in the wall that would cost money to repair and making him even more pissed off. 'It was for the Company? Ain't got nothin' to do with that…the problem is how're we gonna pay off this debt? A bastard like you…'

Sinbad and Hinahoho sighed as they witnessed Ja'far changing back to his assassin mode.

'…SHOULD PAY WITH HIS LIFE, SHOULDN'T HE?! I'll kill you damnit!'

Vitel screamed for his life and Hinahoho quickly held the smallest of them to avoid a comrade's demise at his hands. The memory of Ja'far, boss of the assassins caused the Vitel to faint and Sinbad immediately tended to him, while Ja'far calmed down in Hinahoho's strong grip.

They were all worried, they were all anxious and none of them could come up with a viable plan. They should all calm down first and think later.

Except they didn't. Sinbad with, all his strength and dumb luck, managed to save the company, but failed to ensure his way out of the pickle…and the jar…and the whole cupboard…

It was with a heavy heart that Ja'far watched his most beloved person fly away to save the dream they'd all been building from the ground up. He endured watching Sinbad being taken away after losing (ridiculously fast might he add) the fight against Masrur in the arena. He endured the horror of seeing the proud and _free_ Sinbad collared and chained. He endured the difficult time it took to bring him back. He endured the bile that rose to his mouth every time he thought about what exactly it is they were all doing.

Ja'far buried himself in his studies and his work to try and distract himself from the ever present anxiety that set up residence in his heart. He tried not to think about the outcome of their plan should it fail. Everyone around him was determined to make this work, they were confident Rurumu and he could do it, but the risk was real and they could all pay dearly for their foolishness if their scheme backfired.

When they succeeded and freed the slaves with Sinbad's help, he really did punch him. With as much strength as he could muster this time. And not only once, but twice. He poured out all the frustration and fear that plagued him the entire time, feeling the saturated anxiety leave him with each word of reprimand like poison. He was aware since the very beginning that such a grand dream could not be accomplished with small amounts of blood and underhanded methods, but it was time Sinbad was made to understand his position too.

'…because the next time you whine and give up…I won't hold back. I'll kill you.'

And he knew, without a shadow of doubt, as Sinbad took the hand he offered that he would never have to go to such extent again. Sinbad took the slaves in and Hinahoho helped Masrur find his place in the Company. Everything fell into place just fine.

All that was left to do was to move Headquarters to Balbadd. What promised to be a heavy task that could certainly spam the course of months, turned out to be an enjoyable reform and decoration for everyone involved and, since "everyone" meant the whole Sindria family, they managed to complete the move in less than one month.

Sinbad was particularly proud that his sleeping quarters were located right next to Ja'far's. Not that they were initially, but Sinbad's family soon became aware of the night terrors left behind by the long weeks of torture their Lord had undergone and, as one who'd received and delivered torture himself, Ja'far decided that the view from the room next to Sinbad's was better than his. The comforting feeling of being next to his most precious person was an added bonus the ex-assassin didn't think he'd ever be ready to mention.

One of such occasions when Sinbad's voice was carried over next door by the relative silence of night, found Ja'far walking barefoot to the elder's bed. He climbed on, shook him awake and cradled his head to his smaller chest, making sure that his heart could be heard and stayed like that for a while, until he could no longer feel the sobs from the other male. Then, he started humming. He didn't know the name of the song, but he remembered a woman's voice singing it as a lullaby for him. He believed it could have been his mother.

'I am sorry, Ja'far. That you have to comfort me like this.' Sinbad muttered in a hoarse voice. 'You are the bravest person I know.'

Ja'far didn't answer. He could feel the immense tension in the muscles of Sinbad's shoulders and neck as his hands caressed them. He leaned down over Sinbad, making him lay back down on the bed and kissed his lips softly.

'Don't you worry about a single thing now, Sin. I am going to take care of you.' He purred to his loved one's ear, he blew and nipped gently at it while his hand travelled a languid path south through Sinbad's chest and abdomen, sneaking underneath the waistband of his trousers…

'What are you doing?!' Sinbad hissed in panic, grabbing Ja'far's hands and pulling them away from his groin as he readily sat up again.

'What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking care of you.' Ja'far answered as a matter of fact, staring at Sinbad and truly believing this was a good enough explanation.

It clearly wasn't for Sinbad.

'Ja'far I don't need you to do this!' the purple haired ex-slave tried to explain as he sat up without releasing the ex-assassin's hands. 'This is not something an eleven year old child should do!'

'But you need to relax!' Ja'far argued. 'I have done this countless times before! And we are lovers, just in case you haven't realised, Sinbad. Do you intend to kiss me your whole life without having sex?'

'Wha-WHAT?!' Sinbad shouted. 'What do you mean you've done this before?! You're eleven!'

'So you've said before…twice.' Ja'far pouted, withdrawing his hands and looking off to the side.

'Because you are! You're not supposed to do this kind of thing yet!' Sinbad refuted.

'We've been over this, Sin! I'm not supposed to do many things, yet I do, but so do you!' Ja'far defended, pulling at his hands half-heartedly. 'I want to do this with you and unless you tell me you don't want it, I don't see why I shouldn't and don't you dare tell me I'm eleven years old again. I know my age.'

There was a silent minute during which Sinbad pondered the information he had and reached his own conclusions.

'Was it a mission…?'

The right conclusions, albeit not the subject Ja'far wanted to talk about.

'We often were requested to take care of "customers" or our superiors.' He told Sinbad, looking at his hands, choosing his words. 'I only want to do it with you, Sin. From now on, only you. And if it's numbers you're so worried about, then you surely must remember that I am almost twelve and you only just turned sixteen!'

'I've never done anything like this…' Sinbad confessed. 'I mean, I only know how to please a woman, but I am otherwise clueless.'

'Well that's where being the same gender comes in handy.' Ja'far explained as he cupped Sinbad's face in his hands and touched their foreheads together. 'We don't have to do anything tonight, though.'

Sinbad pondered over the subject for a minute, looking Ja'far in the face. The younger male putting on airs to reassure him, but Sinbad had come to know Ja'far better than he knew himself and he could see the signs of nervousness in the very slight twitching of Ja'far's eyebrow. He decided a long time ago that doing this sort of thing with Ja'far did not make him uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, he'd touched himself with the white haired boy in his fantasies a couple of times before. Or his speculation of what the other would look when he grew up. This had just been unexpected, not unwanted and he demonstrated this by hugging Ja'far's waist and pulling him onto his lap.

'I would not be able to wait. Not after you've made this a possibility.'

They stopped talking in favour of kissing and Ja'far wasted no time to invade Sinbad's mouth with his tongue, tracing the teeth before leading the mutual seductive dance of their tongues, drool leaking down the sides of their lips, ignored.

Ja'far's hands traced a path to Sinbad's ears, teasing them. His fingers tangled into soft purple locks. His thighs straddled the older teen's and he aligned their bodies flush, undulating his hips softly against Sinbad's pelvis and earning himself a throaty moan.

He was more than satisfied to be able to feel his lover was as aroused as he was. He'd been worried that being with another male would freak Sinbad out.

Sinbad wasn't idle either. He eagerly followed Ja'far's breath taking lead, intent on learning as much as possible as quick as possible. He sneaked his hands under Ja'far's shirt and traced patterns around his muscles and scars, delighted at the pleasure hiss Ja'far let out when his nails raked a particularly large bump. _His scars are sensitive…noted!_

'Sin…' Ja'far called in the lewdest voice Sinbad had ever heard his whole life. He moaned out loud as hot shivers ran up his spine and heat started to pool in his groin.

Their breaths accelerated quickly, mingling between their tender lips, intercalating sloppy kisses. The movement of their hips hastened in the impending approach of their orgasms.

Ja'far snaked a hand down between them, keeping eye contact with Sinbad to be able to gauge his reactions. He ceased his hips long enough to pull the waistband of his trousers down and press his now naked erection to Sinbad's clothed one. Slowly and deliberately he pulled at the purple haired male's waistband with an inquisitive look. There was no hesitation in Sinbad's nod and it was all the permission Ja'far needed to grasp both their leaking penises in both hands and restart rolling his hips vigorously. Sinbad wrapped one of his own hands around Ja'far's with a deep needy moan.

They were positively mesmerized at each other's eroticism, in their flushed cheeks; in the sleekness of their skin; in the panting breaths; in the yearning moans and hissed versions of each other's names coming from parted lips. Their voices rose in volume and their movements became desperate and erratic. Sinbad grabbed a fistful of Ja'far's bottom in an irrational attempt to bring him even closer still.

'J-Ja'far, I'm gonna…' moaned Sinbad, resting his forehead on Ja'far's shoulder where his panting breath blew over the younger's ear, creating havoc inside him.

'Mm-yeah! Me too. Sin, cum with me.' He moaned.

Their movements ceased when all their muscles tensed as they came together with broken versions of each other's names stumbling from their lips. Ja'far stroked their pricks a few languid times more, his hands sleek with cum, their bodies twitching lightly from their oversensitivity.

Once finished, the pair kissed each other in lazy, messy lip nips and tongue sweeps. They wordlessly discarded their soiled clothes and lay under the thin bed sheet, facing each other, tracing patters on each other's hands until sleep claimed their consciousness and granted them a dreamless relaxing night.

Nights gradually became terror free for Sinbad after that, thanks not only to his lover's sexual aid, but also the unconditional love from his new family. He knew he'd never be completely rid of nightmares of his time in torture. Ja'far also had them from time to time, but as long as they had each other, everything would be more than fine.

* * *

There was one more trip from Narpolia to Balbadd to be made. Sinbad, Ja'far, Rurumu and Hinahoho (who left the babies with Pipirika) stayed behind after everyone finished moving the merchandise to finalise the contract with the merchant guild in Reim. The group, minus the lady, had spent the day loading cargo to the ship to help out the crew and to make departure faster. The crew was all too happy to let them help and even offered them to join them for dinner.

Dinner was absolute merrymaking, complete with roasted meat and wine.

'Sin, we're children. We shouldn't…' Ja´far started, but Sinbad easily silenced him by shoving a chalice of wine to his hand.

'C'mon Ja´far, let's not offend the charitable hospitality of our crew!' He draped an arm over the younger one's shoulders and held his own chalice with the other. The look he sent Ja'far clearly stated that if he agreed to not treat him as a child in bed, then Ja'far could not use his age as an excuse for _anything_.

Ja'far sighed and smiled. He was not really opposed to the idea of partying with his family anyway. He thought they all deserved some private merrymaking after all that had happened and, after a glance Rurumu's way to make sure the giant woman wouldn't oppose, he toasted with his Lord Sinbad and drank the chalice dry. Rurumu must have made an exception this time in light of celebrating that they were _all_ safe. Both Imuchakk easily downed (one more refined than the other) two very large chalices of whine (water for Rurumu) to make up for the heat they experienced during the day.

A few drinks and lots of jokes later had everyone sated and ready for bed. A slightly tipsy Hinahoho left with his lovely wife to their quarters, but not without instructing the children to also go to bed early.

Ja'far and Sinbad watched them go with twin smiles on their faces. When they left, Ja'far finished his (third?) chalice of whine and returned it to the table with a sigh.

'You sure can drink, for such a small guy!' a crew member commented, earning himself the laughter of many others, including Sinbad. Ja'far didn't like the "small" comment.

'Don't be so sour! I'm sure you'll grow up soon!' Another male voice commented and all around laughter and noises of agreement filled the space.

'Time to go, you lot!' A crew member announced from the entrance to the cabin signalling the time to stop their festivities. 'Who's on watch?'

The crew left the cabin in high spirits, chatting animatedly amongst themselves, the ones on cooking duty taking the dishes with them, but leaving the wine and chalices on Sinbad's request.

'I'm going to bed too.' Ja'far declared when the last of the crew left the cabin, looking at Sinbad expectantly.

Sinbad smiled and grabbed his hand gently, tracing small circles on his pulse with his thumb. Ja'far didn't look away.

The purple haired teen closed the distance between their lips eager to feel the pleasure of the soft and wet skin rubbing so sensually against his. Making out for minutes on end, with mischievous hands all over the other's body, was one of their favourite ways of showing their young love to each other and quell the ever present need to be as impossibly close as they could. When they finally parted, a thin string of saliva still connected them, making them both lick their tender lips, their breaths mingling in puffs of wine scented, invisible clouds.

'I think I'm gonna clear my head a bit before I join you guys.' Sinbad declared as he caressed Ja'far's cheeks and ran his fingers through pale locks of hair. Ja'far found himself unable to speak, resorting to nodding slightly.

With one (million) last kiss, Ja'far left the cabin to lie down and sleep as Sinbad climbed the steps to the main deck.

The wine on board the ship was delicious, but also strangely strong. He hadn't had that much to drink, if he was honest, but he was already feeling the effects on his body. He leaned against the gunwall and looked up at the sky. Out here in the sea, the stars were unrivalled in their shining beauty.

Out here in the sea, Sinbad felt the closer to his father and his thoughts….

'PIRATES!' Until someone screamed that.

The pirates came, not only from the sides of the ship, to which they obviously moored smaller boats, but also from the inside of it, where the alert originated from, clearly having infiltrated the crew. There was no sign of a ship nearby, meaning that the pirates had been trailing the this one for quite a while. A look at the crow's nest confirmed this: a pirate was climbing down from it dextrously with a cutlass between his teeth.

In truth, the Sindria Trading group would have been more than enough to overkill the under-skilled sea men, but the pirates threw smokes bombs with a sweet smell that effectively hindered Sinbad's attacks. Not only that, but he started to feel dizzy. His movements turned sluggish and slow and his depth perception was that tiny little bit distorted. He was sure the smoke combined with whatever poison those infiltrated pirates slipped in the drinks were the cause.

'Sin!' Ja'far's voice called from the general direction of the stairs.

'Here!' Sinbad responded, but with the sounds of battle coming right after Ja'far's voice Sinbad deduced the white haired male was occupied. 'Shit.' The Imuchakk couple must have been thoroughly knocked out, then.

_Just how much did they drink?_

Ja'far's body was used to a very wide range of poisons and was immune to most, but this particular one seemed to act on a different level than anything he'd encountered before. Even so, his resistance was good enough to allow him to sense the pirates all around him in the smoke and attack with precision. Sinbad was able to evade and deflect all the attacks directed his way so far, his body growing accustomed to the differences between his perception and reality and the pair thought they could easily hold the pirates off.

Maybe they could defeat them?

The thought caused Sinbad to shudder. Wasn't it this overconfidence of his that landed him a slave before? Didn't he still have a large bruise on his neck to prove his naivety? And in his moment of slight panic, a small pirate ambushed him from behind; their face so close Sinbad could spot a pair of angry green eyes with a look he hadn't seen since he first met Ja'far: maniac bloodlust over a sea of lost emptiness and despair.

The person was clearly a child, wearing an old green cloak around their shoulders and brandishing a golden dagger with black and red gems on the hilt. A long braid of white hair flowed under the restrictions of cloth as they swung their arm and successfully knocked Sinbad out by dealing a clean hit to the side of his neck. They grabbed Sinbad before he hit the ground, and tossed him to one of their comrades, a large, blond, bulky man, who secured the prisoner with one arm before jumping off the ship.

The child then turned to Ja´far, their dagger ready to defend against the younger opponent. Ja'far, on the other hand, was getting tired of knocking small fries out of the way only for them to return. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that had nothing to do with the wine or the smoke and felt all too familiar to the eve of Sinbad's capture.

But they were a serious pain in the ass, in the ex-assassin's opinion. Especially when he was barely able to deflect an attack from someone who was clearly not a small fry.

'Sin?' he called and that bad feeling intensified as the seconds of silence passed. 'Sin!'

The non-small fry snickered, revealing to Ja'far that he was dealing with a girl, probably the same age as him. He faced the direction where her voice came, but his eyes followed her aura as she circled him, hiding in the smoke.

'You're good…' She hissed from his left. Ja'far turned his head towards her voice just in time to receive a very strong kick that sent him rolling across the deck and right into the gunwall. He heaved himself from the floor, spitting blood and noticed that the red wires attached to his daggers were unwrapped from his arms. Instead they were stretched across the floor to a point inside the smoke he couldn't see. With an angry grunt he violently tugged on the wires from his end to pull the enemy towards himself, ready to deliver the worse punch he could. His eyes widened however and he hesitated at the sight of the small person flying towards him with a large sack in their hands. The next second he was struggling to get out of said sack as he was tossed around from person to person and carried away. He didn't realise until much later that in the process, he had been relieved of his household vessel.

The image of two bloodlust filled green eyes and white hair was embedded in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'd like to apologize for taking down this fanfiction for so long. I originally intended to correct some mistakes, but then I decided that, since The Adventures of Sinbad was, and still is, being continued, I would wait for the official account of the SinJa relationship before adding in my two cents (more like a thousand million).
> 
> Second, I didn't intend to write lemony goodness so early into the story, but I reasoned that it'd work better if Sinbad and Ja'far were lovers before meeting my OC. As you will be able to read, Ja'far's age gave me quite a lot of discomfort, but I read "How Old Are You Anyway?" by CapeVerdeGiantSkink on AO3. This made me realise that really, Ja'far's job as an assassin would most likely demand him to engage in sexual intercourse. Also if they're old enough to run a Trading Company and be taken seriously, then why not be old enough to understand what it really means to be in love with somebody?
> 
> Third, I have become appalled at the fandom and their tendency to turn Sinbad into a drunkard, incompetent, promiscuous, idiot and Ja'far into his nagging, workaholic, babysitter. I'd done that too, initially. As I was reading The Adventures of Sinbad I realised that there is so much more to them that what we could see in Magi (though I expect their depth to improve with the recent developments in the series). Yes, Sinbad is indeed a womanizer who goes to brothels and the likes, but up to the point in which my story takes place, there is no reason why I should believe he's got any experience with ladies, the one time he goes to a brothel being in Artemyra and we all (who read the Manga) know how that goes. If anything, Hinahoho is the one who seems to never stop, taking his prole into consideration. Sinbad has nothing but his dream in his head. He regards his Company higher than even himself, to the point where he becomes a salve in order to save it and the people in it. What we see as the "Lady Killer" is a confident young man with the right libido who knows exactly what his looks can do. And he wastes no time in taking advantage of that. Ja'far on the other hand, has become reserved when following Sinbad. He also regards Sindria Trading Company very high, but he regards Sinbad higher. He puts the Company at risk to save the young man who made it possible. He is a child with his head on his shoulders and who knows what must be done, even if that means getting his hands dirty. What we see of Ja'far's "nagging" is him scolding Sinbad for being a reckless man who lets his luck take care of things too much, not telling him how to do his job as a king. In fact, Ja'far has so little screen time that it makes me almost disappointed, Sinbad always saving the day somehow. Also, Ja'far is a very kind man with a soft heart, spoiling Alibaba and Aladdin rotten with food until they can barely touch their own belly buttons
> 
> Magi and The Adventures of Sinbad are underlined with incredibly dark themes such as assassination, slavery, torture, military service, war, witchcraft, etc. It isn't implicit but common sense will make the older readers ponder on the implications of these, i.e.: Besides assassinations, was Ja'far sent to other types of missions? What kind of torture was Sinbad subjected to when he was a slave? What about Masrur and the other children? There is actually a panel in Adventures of Sinbad, chapter 71, where Maader is bathing with her blushing slaves, all naked body contact- this is only one that comes to mind at the moment.
> 
> I have fallen in love with SinJa before writing this story and I have fallen hard, but after I was done editing Ties of a Heart, SinJaOC has become an almost delusion of canon for me. I will be fangirling over this for my entire life!
> 
> I have searched the internet for many themes on piracy in the 18th century to base myself on when writing this piece and for Judi's role in the Company I quite literally copy pasted Wikipedia's definition of East India Trading Company's "writers". The whole article on financial troubles made appreciate Ja'far a LOT more. You can go check it out, if you'd like!
> 
> I hope that, having read this, you can still enjoy my fanfiction. Please let me know if you like it or if you don't!


	2. Treasure Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When things turn sour, help arrives from an unexpected source and Sinbad gets to learn just a bit more about the strange girl who kidnapped them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your kudos, dear guests! I have updated only because of you, since I am full with work up to my ears! I hope you enjoy!

When he woke up the whole world around him was pitch black. It didn't matter where he'd turn his head to, there wasn't a single light. It soon became obvious that he'd been blindfolded. It was either that or he'd gone blind. He didn't even want to think about the possibility of such a thing happening. Ja'far would surely make his head roll backwards with his punch this time.

He was actually more scared of what the white haired male would do to the people who kidnapped him. Now that was not going to be pretty. In truth, he was feeling a bit scared himself, memories from Mariadel Company still too fresh in his heart. But he could not, _would not_ let Maader rule him any longer.

The sound of a wooden door opening on his right alerted him of the presence of another person. His nose immediately recognized the salty smell of the sea, both from the draft that came in through the open door and from the person that just entered.

'So, you're awake, Sinbad.' The person said. Their childish voice was hardened by their life on the sea and possible hardships lived through. Soft and small but calloused hands touched his face, making him flinch back when they untied the blindfold's knot at the back of his head.

The child was the same that had captured him back at the ship, their green eyes and white braided hair betraying the truth and Sinbad was surprised to find out the child was a girl.

She couldn't be older than Ja'far, albeit taller. Her skin was tanned, her green eyes where a brilliant emerald shade and her pale hair escaped the long braid streaming from the back of her head messily around her head. She was wearing white trousers with a red linen belt and a white sleeveless top with an unnecessarily wide cleavage covered by a black open vest. Not that the pre-pubescent chest was of incredible notice, yet, but Sinbad could imagine. On her feet rested a pair of black shoes and around her left foot was a thick gold bangle. On her belt was a gold dagger embroidered with black opals and rubies.

A hit to the head brought Sinbad's eyes back to the blushing but very pissed off face of the girl. 'My face's up here!'

'Oh, no, no! I wasn't…it's just…your knife…' Tried Sinbad, but his excuse fell on deaf ears as the small hands tied his wrists together firmly leaving a loose end in order to pull him along, which she did none too gently. The girl's eyes were shining with what Sinbad recognized as the hope of a desperate person and he became intrigued.

'Where are my things?' he asked before they reached the brightness outside the door, genuinely worried about his metal vessels and his friends. 'And where are my comrades?'

The girl stopped and turned around staring up at him with a conflicted expression. 'Hidden.' She said at the end of an elongated pause and lowered her gaze before leaving whatever cabin he'd been sleeping in.

His sense of smell had been dead on, he realised as he was tied to the mast of a ship, clearly not the same from the previous days of travel; its sails were fat with the wind right above his head, making the vessel almost fly on top of the waves. On deck was the rest of the crew, gathering around the treasures they stole from the ship and other prisoners they brought along with Sinbad as well as some prisoners that were not in the previous ship he'd been on board of.

A yell to his left brought Sinbad's attention to a struggling group of men.

_'A fight?'_

As he observed the events though, the scene unfolding made more sense if the men were struggling against something instead and a fear crawled inside him. He didn't know where his friends had gone…could it be them?

His suspicions were confirmed when he saw the lean figure of the eleven year old ex-assassin, fighting wildly against his capturers, his metal vessels obviously taken from him. He was impressed by the sheer power of the small child, having to be restrained by three of the bulkiest members of the pirate crew.

'Ja'far, that's enough!' Sinbad called from his place on the mast as he tried desperately to make heads of this quickly escalating bad situation.

The young boy's eyes widened at the voice and his lips formed his Lord's nickname before he was hit on his stomach making him double over in pain. The crew members promptly tied him to the mast as well, next to Sinbad.

'Where were you?' asked Ja'far as the pirates backed off of them.

'I think the wine had something funny in it.' Sinbad answered, knowing full well that Ja'far had already reached that conclusion himself.

'I think you were their target, Sin.' Ja'far informed. 'Everyone else was passed out in the cabin last night. I think they brought me along because I was on deck with you.'

'And now we're going to use you as insurance.'

The new voice broke through the noise on the ship like a sword would cut through butter on a hot day. From the steps of the quarterdeck was descending a tall tanned man, dressed in red and white, grinning widely through a thick, short, black beard as if the fact that he just kidnapped Sinbad (as in Dungeon Capturer Sinbad, head of Sindria Trading Company Sinbad) was the most hilarious thing in the world…

The man approached the prisoners with that wide grin on his face, inspecting them and dividing them into two groups, his criteria obviously his own. His crew followed his orders with expectant smiles on their faces as they separated and sorted men, women and children out. Some laughs here and there from random comments denoted the men's excitement and the catcalls at the female prisoners told the story of the fate that awaited them at their hands.

The white haired girl was standing a few steps from the rest of the crew with disgusted features. She clearly disapproved of her fellow pirates' actions. She looked at the two honour guests tied to the mast and walked up to them, stopping right in front of Ja'far looking at him as if the man was the most fascinating creature in the world and Sinbad could swear he felt the boy squirm a millimetre next to him. Then she turned her head to Sinbad. 'Your bodyguard?'

'I never thought the mighty Dungeon Capturer could have been done in by mere pirates!' the Captain commented in a deep tone of voice, mockery dripping from his every word and placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

'And I never thought I'd agree with mere pirates.' Ja'far growled and glared his worst withering look at the man, his last words dripping with venom. 'You're all obviously small fries around here, save for your little… _assassin_.'

Sinbad noticed the strange intonation the word had carried from Ja'far's lips and tucked the information away for later prodding.

'And yet here you are, tied to a mast. I was the one who trained these thieves from the sea! The same small fries who captured you.' The Captain confirmed, proudly gesturing over to his very diverse crew and, now that he took a good look, Sinbad could tell apart some nationalities like Balbadd, Qishan and Akita. Some even looked like they belonged somewhere in the bazaars of the Partevia or Reim empires! There were even some who Sinbad assumed were of mixed background or from places he wasn't even aware of yet, like the white haired girl.

The bulky Captain kept going on and on about the fact that he'd handpicked every single one of his men and whatnot, but Sinbad wasn't paying too much attention. His focus lied on the fact that Ja'far had yet to explode from the man's insults towards him. Sure, he was still glaring holes into the man's skull, but Sinbad knew him and he knew he was just the tiniest bit more subdued. As if trying not to make their predicament any worse. He'd certainly grown during his time as Rurumu's right hand man.

Until the Captain laughed, that is.

'You scurvy dogs will never know what hard work and sacrifice means!'

'What the fuck did you just say, you worthless scrap of shit!?' the white haired boy yelled pulling at the ropes that bound him in a vain attempt to free himself and deliver death's punishment on the Captain. 'You wouldn't know hard work if it bit you on the ass!'

'Ja'far!' called Sinbad.

He was too late, though. The Captain looked him down with infinite arrogance and a smirk. 'I don't like your face. Not in the least. I think you and your oh, so powerful friend need to learn some manners. Baul, Dohm!' the man called without turning his face and two of the biggest men Sinbad's eyes had ever seen stepped forward with a dutiful "Aye, Captain!" on their lips. 'Why don't we teach our guest how a true man is raised?'

The smirks on the crew managed to positively freeze Sinbad's blood.

The two big men untied Ja'far and held him with his arms on his back and hauling him, face forward to the mast so that they could look at each other, while the rigger tied a rope around his waist and arms and hung him high above on the yardarm, well away from any hope of coming loose. Sinbad caught his wide and somehow frightened eyes and he knew his own stare was a mirror of the former assassin's. Two other crew members grabbed a rope on the other side of the yardarm and pulled. Ja'far was looming right above the sea, ready to be dunked.

'Let's see if his blood can call forth any sea monster for dinner!' The captain yelled as he looked at the rigger. Said man smirked and approached Ja'far and, with the dagger he'd been holding between his teeth, he made a deep cut down the boy's arm. The white haired ex-assassin did nothing but flinch slightly.

Sinbad called Ja'far's name when he realised what was going to be done to him. He turned to the Captain with his heart on his throat and pleaded for his friend. 'I am sure we can find a way to solve this.'

'No can do, Mr Trade Lord. Your subordinate will meet his punishment as many times I see fit for his insolence and your inability to keep him in check.' The Captain said, his voice now devoid of any light-heartedness and his eyes piercing Sinbad's desperate ones. 'Another! Make him scream!'

The rigger nodded and pressed his dagger to Ja'far's side, piercing the skin and muscle and drawing enough blood to drip through the white haired boy's clothes and to the salty surface of the sea. Ja'far gasped loudly and scrunched his face with a groan. The rigger frowned and twisted the knife inside.

That did the trick. Ja'far's throat tore in a painful scream, panting hard and groaning when the knife was removed. His blood was now flowing freely to the ocean.

'Ja'far!' yelled Sinbad, pulling viciously at the thick ropes that held him firmly against the mast. His heartbeat racing against the cold fear that threatened to suffocate him. He turned to snarl at the Captain: 'Let him go! I'll kill you!'

Then, without an answer or warning, the Captain sliced through the air with his arm and the two men holding Ja'far let go of the rope. Sinbad saw the white haired boy take a breath in before he disappeared under the salty surface of the sea.

Sinbad could only imagine what horrible pain the sea water was doing to Ja'far's new wounds and he continued to scream at the Captain to let him go.

Time passed by, slowly, so slowly and Ja'far was yet to be hauled back up. Sinbad's heart drummed in his chest so loud he thought it could even be heard over the excitement of the pirates' laughs and taunting whistles. When he was finally pulled out of the sea, Ja'far breathed in deeply and coughed, wheezing, screaming and trying to get as much oxygen as he could into his deprived lungs. His soaked form was a pitiful sight Sinbad has only seen once and it pulled at his heartstrings so bad he resorted to begging. The wound on his side continued to bleed abundantly mixing with the sea water and falling like a scarlet waterfall through the drenched white clothes that were Ja'far's outfit.

And Ja'far was dunked again.

Sinbad breathed the ex-assassin's name and turned his eyes to the Captain struggling against his binds and burning his skin as he pulled and rubbed. The man was smirking cruelly, a deep cold shadow on his features dripping with blood lust so thick he could feel it and he instantly knew that this man would not stop until his most beloved was dead. How did he ever let that girl knock him out?! How could Ja'far also get himself caught?! How could he let this happen?!

These thoughts brought the Sindrian Lord's eyes to the white haired female pirate…or the place where she was just a moment before. He found her just as Ja'far was pulled out of the water for the second time, his coughs and attempts to breathe again louder by the second and, unlike her crewmates, the girl was looking everywhere but at Ja'far, her face seeking for something.

Sinbad looked at the white haired boy as he desperately tried to get a good breath in before being sunk again. The yells and laughs of the crew were completely drowning out the sound of the small boy hitting the water.

'The prisoners are escaping!' the only female pirate yelled. Everyone looked at her as she held one of the other prisoners down by the hair while calling the attention of the rest of her mates to the miraculous escape of more than thirty filthy people that were now scrambling around, looking for an escape. Some were even jumping out of the ship in a vain attempt to save their lives.

'Catch them!'

At this command the crew scrambled around deck to catch the fleeing prisoners and chaos ensured. Women and men alike were screaming and the pirates were barking orders around. The two men holding Ja'far hauled him up and tied the rope to the fife rail as quick as they could. There was blood as well as the unfortunate prisoner got the wrong end of a pirate's cutlass and there were people falling down the ship like ripe apples on spring.

Amongst this mayhem, only the white haired girl and Sinbad heard the rigger yell when the hastily tied ropes gave up and slid free, letting Ja'far fall to the sea.

Sinbad didn't even have time to call out. The girl unsheathed her dagger and cut through the teen's ropes in the same movement, looking at him with a determined expression. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him on a dash across deck and to the back of the ship. Sinbad struggled to keep up with her. They didn't stop until they reached the edge of the quarterdeck where, without hesitation, the girl pushed Sinbad on the back, over the rail and overboard.

Feeling the sea envelop him was like a fresh breeze for the head of Sindria Trading Company and he felt alive, at peace, forgetting everything momentarily. But he knew he had to come back up with an urgency…when he emerged everything came crashing down on him and he looked around frantically. He couldn't see Ja'far anywhere!

Behind him he heard a loud roar and he saw with wide eyes as a sea monster picked on people from a fleeing brigantine. He could faintly hear the shouts of the Captain to his crew, both to fight off the beast and to unravel sails.

He didn't stay to watch, though. He dove underwater and swam, looking desperately as his eyes stung from the saltiness that assaulted them and his lungs protested from the continuous lack of oxygen.

Then he saw him, pale and weak, swatting his legs back and forth trying to reach the surface, his wound still bleeding profusely, his arms still firmly tied to his back.

With the very little oxygen he still had in his lungs, Sinbad swam towards Ja'far, reaching him faster than he expected. He didn't stop to untie him as his vision was swimming and dimming and he needed to get to the surface!

Just when he thought he'd never make it, a hand dove down to him and grabbed his stretched one, pulling him and Ja'far out of the water just as his consciousness faded…

Sinbad's eyes opened abruptly to a very bright sun and screaming lungs as he coughed and wheezed. His eyes cried as tried to open them and he barely registered the fact that he was lying on hard wood and Ja'far was no longer on his arms until he could breathe again. Just then was he able to look for his most precious person.

Ja'far was lying not a foot away from him, clearly unconscious and obviously not breathing as the white haired pirate was pressing her hands to his chest over and over, counting to thirty and moving to the man's lips, pinching his nose and breathing in once, then twice and repeating the process.

Sinbad looked at them with his heart on his throat, silently begging for the girl to succeed in saving Ja'far's life.

It seemed like an eternity and tears were streaming down the teenager's face as his heart threatened to fly off his ribcage until Ja'far coughed up water and finally, finally breathed in and got squeezed by Sinbad in a hug so tight he could have been broken in half.

Ja'far groaned in pain and clutched his chest and Sinbad immediately let go.

'We still need to treat his wounds. I also cracked a rib during resuscitation.' The girl informed him as she pried the smaller man from Sinbad's grip and lay him back down. 'I didn't have to push so hard for you, though.' Then she took her dagger and ripped Ja'far's white shirt open, uncovering the deep bleeding gash the rigger had carved into the boy's side. 'Let's hope it's only flesh and not internal organs…' she whispered as she untied her linen belt and pressed it against the wound to stop the bleeding. Ja'far groaned at the pressure.

'Why are you helping us?' asked Sinbad with a croaky voice as he looked at the child keeping pressure on Ja'far's wound, unable to pick up her dagger and defend herself against a possible attack from him.

'None of your business.' She snapped and glared. 'You better grab the oars and row. We need to tend to this guy if you want him to live.'

Sinbad looked at her for a couple of seconds before following through with her command.

'Go south.' The girl said after a while, checking if she'd managed to stop the bleeding. 'There's an island nearby. With your speed we should make it there before nightfall.'

Sinbad only then noticed the brigantine was now out of reach and moving fast in the opposite direction he was instructed to follow.

'We got separated when the sea monster showed up.' The girl explained when he kept looking at the sailing vessel.

Without further delay, Sinbad got his hands on the oars and rowed as hard as his muscles would allow him. Ja'far's panting and groaning fuelled him to never give up. It was only when the boat they were in hit the sand and the oars got buried in it that Sinbad realized they had arrived to their destination and the girl was hoisting Ja'far into her back with a huff.

The purple haired teen had forgotten how long it'd been since he'd seen such a strong child, aside from Masrur, of course.

The white haired pirate walked as fast as she could, with the added weight of Ja'far's limp body, into a forest of palm trees and Sinbad followed her silently, pushing the occasional branch out of their way. The girl led him to a small river of running clear fresh water, but she didn't stop. She kept walking along the river's shore and into the thickening vegetation of the forest. It took them but a couple of minutes to break from the bushes of berries and Sinbad's eyes feasted on the beautiful sight of a tall waterfall.

The white haired girl stepped into that waterfall, disappearing behind it into what was certainly a cave.

'Figures…' commented the teenager under his breath.

The cave was a huge expanse of rock; stalactites and stalagmites fell and rose from every surface, many of them forming thick natural pillars. It was bright with the sun shining from several other entrances and waterfalls and a mysterious blue light that came from a large, deep and clear lake in the centre. All this light shone on the vast treasure scattered all over the rocky surface. The whole space had been covered in gold, silver, gems, tapestries and silks. It was, without a shadow of a doubt, the pirates' hideout.

'Grab those and spread them on top of that rock!' ordered the white haired pirate, pointing with her chin to a pile of tapestries, linens and silks.

Sinbad obeyed without a fuss, preparing a makeshift bed for Ja'far with as many layers of cloth as he could get and where the ex-assassin was laid with the upmost care his carrier could have mustered. She, then proceeded to uncover a gaping deep gash, caked with dried blood and some fresh. The white haired girl laid a hand over Ja'far's stomach and looked at Sinbad in the eyes.

'I want you to listen to me carefully, now. This is the only chance this person has to survive. I am going to save him, but you cannot leave this place under any circumstances. If you do, you will just be wasting what few time your bodyguard still has. I trust you're wise enough to understand this?'

At the serious look on Sinbad's face and his nod, the girl turned her back and ran out of the cave through a tunnel that led upwards.

Sinbad turned to Ja'far. The boy's face was pale…er. So much so that his freckles looked almost black on his skin. He was sweating and panting and he was surely developing a fever.

'I'm sorry, Sin.' Ja'far said, his voice was weak and hoarse as his eyes slowly opened and Sinbad couldn't feel anymore useless. 'I wasn't supposed to get caught.'

'Don't, Ja'far. It was my fault. I let myself get caught so stupidly.' Sinbad confessed, his face grave. 'And we managed to get separated from the others as well.'

Sinbad took Ja'far's hand on his bigger ones and kissed them.

'I'll be alright, Sin…' Ja'far muttered miserably. 'I've…been through worse.'

Sinbad frowned. It was true, but it didn't make their situation any less dire and the fact that they were still prisoners, even though their proverbial cage's door was open remained. As much as he hated it, he had to give it to her, the girl had been right. If he escaped with Ja'far he would only manage to disturb his wound even more, get him into the life boat and row aimlessly while the life force of his lover left him right before his eyes. Not to mention that the pirate ship was probably nearby anyway.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps announcing the return of the white haired pirate.

Sinbad noticed a small smile on her face, but it lasted for a mere second, so he could have well have imagined it.

The girl dropped an armful of plants and herbs on the floor, by the lake and proceeded to rinse them out, thoroughly removing any dust, sand and insects, before reaching for a golden bowl. She shredded the herbs into the bowl, added a few fingers of water from the lake and stood. 'Hold him still.'

Sinbad didn't even have his hands on Ja'far yet, when the girl pressed the green mash into his wound making the ex-assassin scream at the top of his lungs and contort in pain.

'Hold him still!' she repeated, more firmly and loudly as she scooped more herbs and repeated the treatment.

The process was very painful and at the end Ja'far passed out from exhaustion and pain. The pirate said she couldn't help much with the latter, though, so it was a good thing. She had sweat on her brow and a deep frown of concern on her face.

Sinbad also felt the strain of the day on his body, mostly his arms and legs. After he helped the white haired girl tie a bandage around the younger boy's torso, his limbs gave way and he collapsed across from him. The purple haired teenager watched as the pirate carefully tied a bandage around the first cut the rigger had made on Ja'far's arm, also smearing some herbal concoction on that wound.

'Why are you doing this?'

The girl didn't answer. She turned around and walked up to a pile of golden treasure, scooping some items that she, then proceeded to rinse in the lake. Chalices, Sinbad noted. Golden chalices embroidered with gems forming beautiful patterns. Pieces that were probably stolen from great halls of noblemen and that were meant to hold the richest of wines and not the clear water the pirate offered him instead.

No wine could have tasted any better at that moment, though and he gulfed down the water greedily and almost choking on it.

'My name's Judi.' The girl said as she also drank her share of water as eager as he had. She opened her arms wide to signal the treasure around them and added. 'As you can see, I am a pirate.'

Sinbad didn't speak. It wasn't the answer he wanted, but she was talking at least. He watched her eyes lock on the shiny treasures around her, shining with wonder.

'You are both prisoners and the Captain's will shall be done as soon as he arrives. I've lit the lantern outside so he'll know we're here…no, he already knows.' She explained while gathering all sorts of golden items from piles and piles of treasure, he eyes lighting up even more when she spotted a particularly expensive one and placed it on her body. 'He knows us. We are his to know and command.' Judi's voice betrayed none of the thoughts or feelings Sinbad assumed her heart waned to scream. She kept her tone neutral, as if she had rehearsed and trained it. A skill she most likely polished throughout her life.

'What does usually happen to your prisoners?' asked Sinbad, quietly.

Judi looked at him for a moment before she spoke, with her now gold covered arms on her equally golden waist. 'Rest. It won't take the captain long to arrive.'

Judi looked at all the gold on her arms for a moment and Sinbad was able to notice a myriad of emotion flash in them. An alien feeling overtook his whole body. Something so strong it urged him to act, to do something that he wasn't at all sure what, so he restrained himself. When the moment passed, however, Judi went back to avidly cover herself with treasure as if nothing else in the world would make her happier.


	3. An Old Acquaintance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a fragment of Ja'far's past comes back alive and Sinbad is all but ready to drop the issue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you once again to my dear guests and to FlowerChildx78 for your kudos! I am incredibly grateful!

Sinbad didn't know when exactly had he fallen asleep. He only knew that it was dark again when he woke up. This time, though, it was due to the absence of the sun in the sky. He looked around the cave and noticed Judi standing right next to Ja'far. The ex-assassin was no longer sleeping though. He talked in whispers to the girl that was changing his bandages, applying more of that painful green paste onto the wound.

'It could have been a lot worse.' She said as her gentle fingers prodded at the flesh to inspect it. 'You heal fast too.'

'I've definitely had worse.' Ja'far commented, looking at the fingers on his skin. ' _We've_ definitely had worse.'

The girl's hands stopped for a second, but she continued her careful ministrations. 'At this rate you'll be completely healed in two or three weeks.'

Ja'far's nod of the head informed Judi that he agreed with her. There was a long pause in which Judi wrapped the white bandage around Ja'far's torso, with hushed commands of “Hold here.” Or “Lean forward.” That the ex-assassin had no problem following.

'You're nothing like the others.' Ja'far blurted out. 'I thought you were misplaced in the middle of everyone else, but I am quite sure of it now.'

'Nonsense. I am a pirate just like they are.' Judi retorted as she tied a knot on the bandages and, though she hid her face, Sinbad could clearly see the red on the tip of her ears.

'Yeah, them too, but I was talking about the organization.' Ja'far corrected, looking at her with calculating eyes. The girl stopped moving completely, her arms falling limp at her sides. 'You should have been dead.'

'But I'm not. And that's what matters!' Judi retorted with a harsh whisper, looking to the side.

'So you do know each other!' Sinbad asked her as he approached the pair. 'How did you end up being a pirate, Judi?'

'I don't do life story sharing, if that's what you're asking of me.' She said with a cocky smirk that didn't reach her eyes at all but succeeded in throwing Sinbad off track. He looked at Ja'far and was met with a glare.

'Not at all, I just wanted to know how come such a fine desert flower like you ended up in a world so harsh.' Sinbad followed up, trying to grasp at the conversation in order to bring it back to the topics he wanted to discuss.

Judi snorted. 'Your sweet talk ain't gonna work on me, my Lord. I know who you are exactly.'

The look on Ja'far's face was absolutely annoying to Sinbad. That makes three girls too many who are able to resist his charm! And to top it off, Ja'far flirted with her! Ja'far didn't do courtship and wooing!

'What?' Sinbad asked shrugging his shoulders and Ja'far sighed.

Sinbad looked away with a pout on his lips, but the conversation was cut off by the sounds of footsteps coming from pretty much everywhere around them. The arrival of the pirate crew signalled by their noise and torch lights made the easy going, cocky look on Judi's face turn into one of hard coldness and authority. She stepped in front of the pair however, in an unconscious sign of protection. Sinbad thought she might not even have been aware she was doing it.

Slowly, the trio was surrounded by smelly dirty pirates. The men stopped short of them with confused looks on their faces and silence in their mouths, before a bulky one stepped forward. His fat, burned face contorted into an expression of anger.

'What's the meaning of this?!' he spat. 'You nursed the enemy back to health?! Traitor...'

His shouts were interrupted by the squelching sound of a blade piercing flesh. Every eye on the cave looked down at the man's chest, where the very sharp tip of a sword was sticking out. A few seconds later the pirate coughed up blood mouth and fell on his face at Judi's feet, dead.

'My dear Judi.' The Captain's deep voice reached their ears before his silhouette did, with his arms spread wide as if expecting the girl to hug him as he walked. His sheath empty of its blade as it had been thrown right through the pirate's back. Judi bowed to him instead, pulling the scimitar from the dead body and cleaning it on a nearby silk, handing it to the bearded man when he stepped in front of her. 'Well done, Judi. These are valuable prisoners after all. We wouldn't want to spoil them.'

'You were the one who ordered my punishment, oh conveniently forgetful ship master!' Ja'far spat with a thousand degree burning glare. He received his own glare back by courtesy of one angry Judi.

'I have done only what was expected of me, Captain.' She said, successfully averting the Captain's attention back to her.

'Obviously.' He said as he cupped her chin between his index finger and thumb. He then turned to the rest of the men and declared in a loud voice: 'Unload the treasures and open the rum! We feast tonight!'

The crew cheered loudly and proceeded to follow the order. Judi stepped forward as well, but was stopped by the Captain.

'You watch the prisoners, my dear. Let the mongrels do the heavy work.'

Judi nodded and returned to Ja'far's side, fiddling uselessly with his bandages and pressing her finger not so gently into his wound making the ex-assassin gasp in pain.

'You are an idiot! Keep your dirty threats to yourself from now on or you won't survive a second time!' she hissed from under his arm.

'I hate you and your filthy race of thieves and murderers!' Ja'far hissed back in frustration and pain.

'Look who's talking, Partevian Assassin!'

'As if you were any different!'

'Did you two ever become friends?' asked Sinbad genuinely curious.

'Shh!'

'Shh!'

'Right…Stupid question…'

* * *

 

It became totally impossible for the Sindrian pair and the white haired pirate to sleep that night. The pirate feast and drunken songs were louder than any festival. Sinbad found himself missing his people more than anything at that moment, wondering about the rest of his party's safety. The pale hand that grabbed his and squeezed was more than a confession of shared nostalgia and the kiss that he stole from Ja'far's lips when no one was looking tasted bittersweet like never before.

'Judi, dear, take the prisoners to their quarters.'

'Aye, Captain!'

The morning that followed the feast was short for the captured pair as it was the only time they could try to sleep some since the pirates weren't feasting anymore. The Captain was an early riser, however and it was all Judi could do to convince him to wait until noon to wake the men. 'They're all four sheets to the wind, Captain. I doubt even a hurricane could rise them now.'

The Captain agreed, albeit begrudgingly, muttering about drunken dogs and sea monsters. At noon sharp, though, the thundering voice of a very pissed off Captain made the whole cave shake and no living soul dared to even blink back to sleep, hangover or not. The crew was instructed to load a pile of the treasure back on to the ship to make do for repair costs and Sinbad and Ja'far were once again assigned to Judi's custody. She was extremely gentle- while trying not to be too obvious- as she handled Ja'far, with Sinbad's help. Not that the wounded ex-assassin couldn't walk by himself, not at all.

They were guided back to the ship, through a completely different path than before, following a trail through the forest, across a hanging bridge that had most certainly seen better days and between tall palm trees and other flora. Sinbad had never seen such vegetation in his life before and he wondered what the fruit would taste like or if the flowers would smell as sweet as they looked. They soon made it to a beach where several cock boats were moored and waiting for them. Once on board the ship, Judi guided them through the same door Sinbad had first seen her come in from, down several sets of stairs and into the brig with a makeshift bed made out of a single humid mattress and no blankets. Sinbad helped Judi lay Ja'far down on the bed.

'Please don't try to run away.' Judi begged as she closed the barred door. 'I'll be right back.'

Sinbad didn't even wait for her steps to fade to pry the ropes on his wrists off and sit next to Ja'far as close as he could. Stoking his hair tenderly and kissing his lips softly.

'I'm sorry this happened, Ja'far.' Sinbad apologized in a hushed pained voice.

'As if it was your fault…' Ja'far said, stroking Sinbad's cheek.

Sinbad was able to kiss Ja'far's lips one last time before the sound of Judi's steps brought her back to their prison.

'You haven't gone anywhere…'she stated, as if confirming that they were indeed following her order.

'We haven't.' confirmed Sinbad as he stepped away from Ja'far, letting the girl put down the heavy blankets she was carrying around herself and the steaming soup that was on her hands. He watched with light amusement as she battled with a weakened Ja'far to try and take off the rest of his clothes.

'You need proper clothes for sailing! Take it off!' she hissed as she pulled and ripped the sash around his waist.

'Stop ruining my clothes already you wench, I am absolutely fine!' Ja'far growled, pulling at the fabric in a feeble attempt to stay dressed, but his fingers were pried open by a very insistent white haired pirate and he couldn't grip hard enough to keep the girl out of his clothes.

Judi had a short fuse apparently. When her gentle efforts didn't get her what she wanted she wacked the ex-assassin unceremoniously on top of the head earning herself a yell from the even shorter tempered boy. Sinbad was sure that she wouldn't stand a chance against him if he was at the top of his abilities, though, and she also seemed to be aware of that fact as she hesitated to use her full strength on their bickering.

'Why are you helping us, oh cabin boy?' Sinbad asked, his good natured tone slowly coming back to him now that they seemed to be out of danger, at least for the moment. One of the things Sinbad was proud at himself for was that his good character judgement has hardly ever let him down and this trait of his was telling him that the girl in front of them was different from the rest of the crew on board this ship, although there was still a great distance to cover between that and actually trusting her. She was still holding their metal vessels hostage after all. Which reminded Sinbad of a very important fact: 'Do you also have Ja'far's metal vessel?'

'No.' she answered, confirming the teenager's suspicions that she was aware of what a metal vessel was. 'I apologize for that, but it seems the Captain has seen your bodyguard's weapon (I'm not his bodyguard!) before me and he seems to quite like it.' Then she turned to face Sinbad with a cocky smirk. 'And I'm not the cabin boy, I'm the first mate.'

After she was finished wrapping Ja'far on the blankets with great difficulty (I can do it myself! Shove off!) and finally giving the former assassin the soup she'd brought for him (It'd be a lot hotter if you weren't such a stubborn hardhead, you ungrateful bastard!), she turned to Sinbad. 'I promise I will retrieve your vassal's weapon…' the she looked at the eldest through her lashes '…if you promise to do one thing for me in exchange.'

Sinbad smirked openly at her with great satisfaction. _We're finally getting down to business._ 'What is it?' He asked instead.

Judi smirked again. 'When you escape this ship, you will take me with you and not hand me over to the authorities, fight me, or try to judge me as a pirate slash criminal in any way or form. I will leave you and we will never see each other again. Only then will I give you your metal vessels back.'

Sinbad flashed a smirk of his own. 'What happens if I don't do that?'

'In that case I hope you don't mind recapturing all those dungeons again.' She said inspecting her nails as if she couldn't care less. 'If you actually manage to escape without my help that is.'

Ja'far was quietly looking at Judi assessing her request and the whole situation. If he was perfectly honest, all he wanted at that moment was to be able to leave that ship and go home with Sinbad. He looked at the purple haired teenager, seeing his confidence plastered all over his handsome features. He didn't doubt Sinbad would get them both out of there. The only think he was worried about was just _how_ was he going to accomplish that. He didn't fancy facing another situation like Artemyra, thank you very much. He wished Sin would think of less…flashy solutions to their problems, but then again, who was he to complain?

'I have an assassin with me and my abilities as a fighter aren't something to laugh about.' Sinbad countered, enjoying their negotiations a bit too much. If he would have looked, he would have seen Ja'far rolling his eyes at his lord. 'I've escaped a lot worse in my life, including two dungeons.'

'There's a reason I'm still here even though I'd rather be somewhere else, swimming in treasures from dungeons and the sort.' Judi informed with a glint in her eyes. 'I am also aware of your fighting abilities, Sinbad, but I captured you once before haven't I? Also, you're not the only one to have encountered a Fanalis, though ours didn't survive a full year…'

That information left Sinbad speechless. A Fanalis? Captured by a bunch of pirates? Not possible!

Ja'far didn't believe it either. 'You're lying. A Fanalis would have broken this vessel in half effortlessly.'

Judi matched Ja'far's confident tone to the letter. 'He wouldn't if we had the right leverage. Humans have hearts, Mr right hand man, I'm sure you know how much of a disadvantage that can be.'

Sinbad didn't like the direction of this conversation at all. This girl was exhilaratingly confusing and contradictory. On one side you could have the devoted kind hearted ally yet on the other there was a sharp fanged treacherous snake waiting to devour your very essence. He was sure she polished this side of her through many hardships as she zealously tried to preserve who she really was on the inside. He's seen that in a certain white haired ex-assassin after all, all those years ago. Maybe all Judi needed was a hand to pull her out of her own black monster. Could it really be that easy?

He watched her banter with Ja'far for a few more moments before he made his decision, based on the (foolish, but he'd never admit that) belief that she wasn't helping them out of her own pure ulterior motives.

He reached a hand to her face, pulling her chin up with his thumb and his index finger, startling her and Ja'far's words mute and muttering straight to her lips: 'You concentrate on getting that vessel and you'll be out of here faster than you can say freedom.'

Judi recovered from her shock and smirked. She stood with a confident hand on her hip and the other extended to the long haired Lord. 'You better keep your end of the deal, Lord Sinbad.'

Sinbad took the offered hand and also stood up, firmly shaking hands on their deal.

Satisfied, Judi walked to the entrance of their cage, where she stopped and looked back, smiling the first true smile they've seen on her face. She looked straight at Ja'far. 'That was supposed to be my dinner so it's not poisoned. Good night.'

Only when her steps had completely vanished did Sinbad turn to his lover. He laughed at the dumbfounded expression and the blush on Ja'far's face.

'She likes you.' He sing-sang.

Ja'far's blush intensified a couple of shades and he dug into the not-so-cold-yet soup. Sinbad laughed and sat back next to him, hugging his head to his chest and kissing his hair.

'I'm truly sorry, Ja'far. This is all my fault.'

'You have a plan.' It wasn't a question and he didn't expect an answer. Instead he continued eating the soup. If he had to be honest, that soup wasn't so bad and it did help him with the cold. Once he was done he hid the plate on the furthest side of the mattress and lifted the blanket on one side as an invitation for Sinbad to join him. The teenager smiled, wrapped the blanket around himself and hugged Ja'far's naked torso from behind, planting kisses along his neck and shoulder. Minding the white haired boy's wound, Sinbad maneuvered Ja'far into lying on his back, while his fingers lightly traced the white bandages. 'I was truly scared today.'

The breath of his Lord's words on his neck made Ja'far shiver pleasantly. 'I was caught off guard.' He explained. He tilted his head sideways to give Sinbad more room to suck and nip on his neck. 'I recognized her from the Organization.'

Sinbad's ministrations paused. 'Will you tell me about that?'

Ja'far didn't answer straight away. The memory no longer caused him suffering. He'd learned to think of it with detachment, even though it did invoke night terrors at times. He wanted to choose his words for Sinbad's sake because he knew the elder would not like it.

'They called it "growing up".' He told. 'Right after killing my parents, I had to "grow up".'

Ja'far recalled the moment he was stripped naked and shoved in a dark room full of naked children who looked at him from the corner of their cold, calculating eyes, much like his own. He looked around the room for possible escape routes and probable enemies. Finding none he decided to sit down. He spotted another white haired child with their arms crossed over their folded knees, pulled up to their chest and their head hidden in the in space between their arms and sat down next to them.

Time passed indefinitely in the dark room. Ja'far could feel the anxiety of the children rolling on his skin but he remained quiet, still, just like the rest of them. The children's alert ears caught the almost absent sound of another assassin's footsteps before the door opened again and a large figure called over in a deep raspy voice, silhouetted against the blinding torch light from the corridor.

'Your mission now is to take care of the "customer". Make them tell you the name of their master through pleasure. When you have the name, kill them.'

Ja'far didn't know the name of the feeling that possessed him to take the other white haired child's hand as they stood, noticing in their state of nudity that they were a girl. Her large emerald eyes still clung to the last remnants of her innocence. Maybe Ja'far wanted to comfort her? Maybe he wanted to be comforted? He only knew that that gesture offered very little hope to hold against a mission they were sure was going to change them forever.

They were guided through corridors with numbered doors inside of which they were shoved unceremoniously by the large man. Ja'far saw the girl disappear behind her assigned door before he too was pushed inside a room.

The face of the man that was waiting for him was not one Ja'far cared to remember. It mixed in his memory with the countless other lust transfixed faces that came after, with greedy eyes, sweaty hands and obvious intentions. With time Ja'far learned the ways of sex. He learned how to fake pleasure and weakness. He learned to lie words of adoration. He learned to prolong his target's bliss until the information he needed was given. And he learned how to kill without making a bloody mess on himself and his surroundings.

'When I got out of the room, so did Judi.' Ja'far finished, looking at the wooden ceiling instead of Sinbad all the entire time he spoke but feeling the teenager's fingers caress his bandaged torso. 'She was a mirror of me covered in our targets' blood, our own blood running down our thighs and nothing but blood lust in our eyes.'

There was a silence after Ja'far's tale. Sinbad didn't have words to say, but he knew Ja'far didn't need them at all. He adjusted his position to be able to kiss Ja'far's lips with the most passion he could put in a kiss. Their tongues danced and caressed each other in their sleek dance. Sinbad reached a hand to Ja'far's nipple, pinching lightly and twisting, while the other travelled south and pulled Ja'far's trousers down his legs. His deft fingers grabbed his length and started stroking it to life.

He was jealous of the countless faceless targets that composed Ja'far's missions for the five years before they met.

'Ah! Not here, Sin!' Ja'far moaned and closed his legs, effectively trapping Sinbad's hand in between them.

The teenager was having none of it though. His lips returned to the ex-assassin's neck and started sucking on a particular spot that made Ja'far literally melt in his arms. He'd had so much fun abusing that patch of skin when he first found it, but Ja'far wasn't at all happy with the terribly dark hickey his throughout ravaging left in its wake.

'I love you, Ja'far.' Sinbad whispered into his ear pouring all his feelings into those three words he could rarely tell the other and that he did every chance he could get.

'I love you too, Sin.' Ja'far answered, giving up to the heat that was rapidly building up inside him. He was quickly becoming addicted to Sinbad and there was nothing he would change about that, _ever._

Sinbad's hand sped up, his thumb caressing the swollen length's head ever so often, causing Ja'far to moan out loud and consequently cover his mouth with the back of his hand.

'Sin! I'm gonna…ah!'

Sinbad continued stroking leisurely while Ja'far trembled on his arms. When he came down from his orgasm, Ja'far turned his head to the side and kissed Sinbad's lips fully and languidly. But the white haired boy still hadn't recovered his strength and he leaned his forehead to the crook of Sinbad's neck while the other man hugged him and lay back next to him.

'I'll get us both out of here, Ja'far. I promise.'

His promise was underlined with the determination to pointedly ignore his own erection.

* * *

 

'This was indeed a good capture, Captain.' Said the quartermaster; a big tanned man with long blonde hair tied back in a low ponytail that the Captain demoted when he failed to break a mutiny. Judi showed her skills for the first time on that occasion, effectively killing the mutiny instigator, but the rest of the crew decided against her taking his place for being too young and we was inevitably promoted again. His demotion served him as a good warning. 'We can now get a big fat reward from the Sindria Trading Company.

'Or we'll get chased by their allies and be executed like worthless dogs.' The bosun added. A scrawny tall man who was dismissed form the military for trying to blackmail his commanding officer. 'We have hardly lost the Balbadd ship. They'll catch us in no time and we have little where to run. We can only stay in headquarters for so long too.'

Any other objections from the last were lost at the knock on the Captain's cabin door. Judi bowed as she entered with a tray of all sorts of varied foods in golden plates and a big bottle of rum in the very middle. She kicked the door closed without even shaking the liquor on the bottle and advanced to the Captain's desk, calmly placing the objects on its surface, carefully avoiding every scroll, map, chart and other paraphernalia.

'What is your opinion on the matter, my dear Judi?' asked the Captain while fixing his quartermaster with a pointed look. It was no secret that the man resented the girl and it was no secret either that most men, if not the absolute majority, considered having a girl on board a ship to be a very bad omen.

The girl in question didn't even flinch as she answered: 'A ransom would be the best course of action, however I'd advise, had I such privilege, to make not the mistake of asking for treasures. As soon as the exchange is done we'd be in range of attack or we'd be hunted down until we're no more. Killing them isn't an option either since they are our only leverage against their allies. I would suggest that we continue to use them as leverage for power for as long as we possibly can. I do believe I recall Captain Rigel mentioning something about richer waters…'

'Sounds good to my ears…' muttered the Captain and took the first bite of his food. 'How do you plan on getting rid of them without falling victim to their army's traps?'

'Well, we could abandon them in one of the many islands throughout the Partevia Pirate routes, leave some clues and have their allies run a treasure hunt, while we make our way out.'

'Nonsense!' yelled the quartermaster as he stood up, pushing the chair back violently. 'That's the same as running away with our tails between our legs! We ain't no cowards, we're pirates!'

'And yet we are but one ship made for speed and an island full of treasures that we can't carry.' Said Judi with the most venomous tone of voice she could muster. She would be cursed before she saw her plan go down in smoke by a mere brainless pirate! Then she turned to the Captain looking straight at him with that conspiratory look he taught her and that she knew he loved, clearly meaning that she owed the quartermaster no more explanation. 'If I am permitted to further suggest that we put the prisoners to good use on the ship.' Judi paused for a second, feigning thoughtfulness. 'There is also that dungeon on that little island Captain found. I am sure we'd be able to capture it with Sinbad's help before anyone else tries to take the treasures.'

There was a wave of silence that Judi used to regain her breath after her tirade and calm her heartbeat. She'd thought her plan through since capturing Sinbad and Ja'far. She thought the three of them could run away from the Captain inside the dungeon. With this plan she also aimed to grant Sinbad and Ja'far time to heal and a certain amount freedom to roam the ship, though they'd most likely be worked to exhaustion. _Oh! The assassin might have trouble with the sun!_ she realized belatedly.

'Impressive indeed. I really can count on my skills to raise good loyal men.' The Captain marvelled while gulfing down a chicken leg and half a bottle of rum. 'I'll leave the prisoners on your care, then. I want to see their bones worked even after they're cracked.'

'Aye, sir.' Judi answered putting on airs of sadistic pleasure, though she did feel a bit elated at having free reign to order that ex-assassin around.

'You're all dismissed.' The three of them moved to leave the room, but were stopped by the Captain a second later. 'On second thought, you stay here Judi. I'll hear more of that plan of yours.'

Judi swallowed deeply. This was the whole reason why she wanted to flee this ship so badly. The Captain took any chance he could get to be alone with her. He'd have her do _things_. She was his, after all. _'You can accept becoming mine, or you can be everyone's. Either way, I'm going to have you, but I'd prefer you stayed clean.'_ The choice was obvious, really.

'I have a question for you, my dear Judi.' The Captain announced as he stood from his chair and approached the girl. Judi brought the tray to her chest in a vain attempt to cover herself. The Captain backed her against the door and stood close to her, his chest barely touching the tray. He grabbed a lock of her hair, slid it behind her ear and, in the same fluid motion, grabbed her braid, pulled it over her shoulder and ran his fingers along its length. When his fingers reached the end of the braid they pulled at the tie and unmade the knot. He then carded his fingers through the braid to untangle the neatly weaved locks. Judi's hair fell around her shoulders like a waterfall. During these brief seconds, the Captain captured Judi's eyes and Judi quickly shut out herself, leaving Judi the assassin to play with the Captain.

'Dear Judi, what happened to Sinbad's metal vessels?'

Judi let the tray down and put it on top of whatever surface was nearest to free her hands. She ran her fingers up the Captain's clothed chest and then down again, her eyes following them with the most innocent expression she could muster.

'I found Sinbad drunk on poisoned wine with nothing on him but his clothes. He had absolutely no jewels on himself or any other artefact that could be a metal vessel.'

'Oh really?' the Captain said getting a step closer and tilting Judi's head a tad upward. Breathing into her lips he continued. 'Well, I did hear from several sources that Sinbad has got bad habits. Are you absolutely sure you checked every part of him, my dear?'

Judi laced her hands around the man's neck and locked her eyes on his, half lidded, dropping the innocence to reveal lust, a trick she had perfected before arriving on the ship. She made sure to lower her still childish voice to sound breathy. 'Every nook and cranny.'

The Captain leaned down and their lips made contact, his tongue immediately invading her mouth and his hands pulled at her waist as he straightened himself. The difference in height caused Judi to be lifted off the floor. She locked her legs around the man's waist.

Dinner was all but forgotten that night as Judi completed her last "task" of the day, before returning to her quarters.


	4. Life as a Pirate Prisoner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It really isn't as bad as being a slave after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to all of my kudos and comments! Also to my friend who has been supporting this story all the way!

'WAKE UP! RISE AND SHINE MAGGOTS! TIME TO WORK! SOMEONE GO GET THE PRISONERS!'

These screams could be heard throughout the entire ship along with the trotting noise of dozens of feet running about to abide these instructions. These were also the sounds that brought Ja'far out of his slumber. The white haired male took but a second to realize where he was, who with and his state of nudity. He reached under his head and the lack of pillow (and more importantly the lack of his Balalark Sei) filled him with a feeling of anxiety he hadn't felt in years. He didn't dwell on it though. In less time that it took him to say “hurry” he shoved Sinbad out of their makeshift bed and got dressed, right before Judi, the quartermaster and a scrawny sailor that looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks appeared before their prison door. The scrawny man opened said door and the other two stood right in front of a cross legged, still drowsy Sinbad and a standing Ja'far.

'You scoundrels are the luckiest slaves in the world.' Judi said. Her voice was now a hundred degrees colder than it had been the previous night and her whole posture was that of a powerful, albeit short, person demanding respect, with her arms crossed in front of her chest and her gaze looking down on them. 'You are going to make your living on board this ship. You are to obey my every command and report to me as soon as you're done with your tasks. If I tell you to kneel, you kneel; if I tell you to jump you jump; if I tell you to wipe the floor with your tongue you do it and if I tell you to kill each other you will kill each other! You can't drink, eat, shit or even pick your snot without my permission! You disobey these rules and you'll wish you were never born! Am I clear?'

Ja'far clicked his tongue and spit on the floor while Sinbad just stared stupefied at the completely different person standing in front of them.

Judi narrowed her eyes, grabbed Ja'far' by the neck and pulled him right to her face as she screamed at him. 'Am I clear or not?' the short male glared daggers at the girl with as much venom as he could pour into his look while the rest of him stood straight and wound up tight like a spring. Sinbad's mind could only process the fact that Judi was taller than Ja'far by a whole head after all.

Ja'far answered through gritted teeth with a low “yes”. Judi didn't like that. 'I can't hear you!' She shouted into his face

'YES! YOU ARE CLEAR!' Yelled Ja'far, his temper barely in check anymore. Screw her image, he was not going to get yelled at and ordered around like a dog for the whole day!

Judi roughly released him muttering a small “piece of shit” mostly for the quartermaster's ears, for appearance's sake. The man smirked. He hauled Sinbad to his feet as if he was but a mere child and shoved a bundle of smelly old rags onto his and Ja'far's arms.

'Change and report in two minutes!' Judi ordered. She stomped out of the cage leaving the two boys to change under the watchful eye of the quartermaster.

'Can you turn around, please? I am not used to changing in front of other people.' Sinbad asked the big man with a smile that was everything but shy. Said man smirked.

'Tough luck, pretty boy. Judi made sure to get you nice clothes and I will make sure you wear them. Now move!'

Sinbad's face changed as quickly as the tide to a scary frown and a heated glare that did nothing but amuse the huge quartermaster.

'Sin.' Called Ja'far, already changed into his new attire. 'We should hurry.'

Sinbad smirked. A much as he didn't really care about being watched as he changed, he was aware of Ja'far's uneasiness. The boy was no prude, but this wasn't like Artemyra, there really was no need to be exposed in front of this brute. So when the younger one spoke, Sinbad took his time undressing and changing into his designated "prison garb". It wasn't really. They were white breathable clothes, a simple set of white cropped trousers and a white sleeveless top held together with linen belts, black shoes and bandanas to cover their heads that would facilitate their work on board, but the action of changing to designated garments while being a prisoner reminded Sinbad of the imperial prisons and the sort. He tried hard not to think about the similarities with the slaves.

Sinbad had to admit though, the new outfit wasn't too different from the ex-assassin's previous one and it fit just perfectly. He admired the permanent markings that the Balalark Sei left around his arms, admitting that they only enhanced the boy's beauty. His own outfit was the same, but in a bigger size and he certainly wasn't used to it yet, but he was sure they'd both be fine.

'Are you okay?' asked Sinbad, worried about Ja'far's recent wound.

'I am perfectly fine.' The former assassin answered and passed him by, confidently following the quartermaster out of their cage, standing as tall as he could and showing no fear.

Sinbad smirked again as he was already expecting that answer.

They followed the quartermaster through the same route they'd been brought down the previous night. Now though, their attention wasn't focusing in trying to get a recovering Ja'far out of the Captain's fangs' range so they noticed the things around them, like how the candles dripped wax all over the walls and wooden pillars of the hold and the orlop from years and years of use and how the darkest and most humid spots of said walls and pillars were covered in barnacles and other such sea creatures. Sinbad could swear those funny shaped crawling things he saw now and again were starfishes! How I the name of Solomon they got there was beyond him, though. Every single wooden plank that made the ship a ship creaked at every step of the quartermaster, but when Sinbad and Ja'far stepped on them they'd remain silent. Just how heavy was this man?

The gun deck was another story, though. The presence of the sun in this level of the ship maintained this deck dry and perfectly fit to carry the weapons and other whatnots made for fighting or provisions that had to stay dry for one reason or another.

The last set of stairs got the three males into the blazing sun. The atmosphere on deck was completely different from that of the day before. The entire crew was now putting their backs to work instead of slacking around laughing and feasting. The memory of the previous days had Sinbad's insides twisting. He had felt completely helpless. Judi had sentenced all the people they'd captured to death without a single thought just to save Ja'far. A complete stranger, an enemy risked everything to save them even though she'd been the one to capture them and he, Ja'far's friend and lover had been unable to do anything to help his most important person…or anyone else.

Judi wasn't joking when she said she'd be on top of them 24/7 and the work was strenuous. It brought a smile to Sinbad's face to know she had given Ja'far the least strenuous tasks and he wanted to thank her for giving them those clothes. They were indeed better fit for working at sea than what he had been wearing.

They spent their days mopping the decks and scrubbing other assigned areas, cleaning cannons, polishing boots, mending clothes and sails and other such paraphernalia, peeling potatoes, washing dishes, carrying buckets of water, waste or other less certain liquids around, mending ropes and any other menial task either the Captain, the quartermaster or Judi herself could think of.

At the end of the first day Sinbad fell on the mattress like a rock. Ja'far however chose to stay standing very awkwardly with his arms away from his body in an attempt to reduce the friction on his burned skin. Sinbad frowned at that and motioned him to kneel in front of him. He grabbed the smaller man's hand and he hissed. Sinbad clicked his tongue and gingerly kissed his palm, then his forehead, his nose and finally his lips.

'Getting comfy, now aren't we?!' Judi commented quite sarcastically at the cage's door when she saw them kissing. Ja'far might have blushed but the redness of his skin wouldn't let it show. Sinbad scratched his head awkwardly and stuttered something that sounded like “Can't help myself”. The purple haired teenager noticed, however that the girl's posture was a bit stiff and a deep red blush had taken residence on her face.

'Right…right…' she muttered, a bit reluctant to approach them. Her hands were clasped tightly around a piece of white cotton fabric. To ease the mood a little Sinbad decided to enquire about it.

'Oh, this is for your bodyguard.' She explained.

'I'm not his bodyguard and my name's Ja'far!' he protested with a half-baked glare.

Judi grinned. 'Well, Ja'far, I saw how fast you burned today but I couldn't very well just pull you aside and leave Sinbad on his own just because, so I got you this.'

Judi kneeled next to Ja'far and unrolled the cloth. Inside it was a jar with a greenish slimy substance. When she opened the jar the smell of plants covered the entire deck and it made Ja'far scrunch up his nose in disgust. Judi chuckled and dipped her hand in, scooping a generous amount of the stuff. Then she reached for Ja'far's arm with gentle fingers. The former assassin took his limb from her grasp immediately and glared at her after hissing from the pain of his movements.

'This is aloe extract. It will help to ease and cure your burns.' Judi explained, quite patiently and with a roll of her eyes. 'It's not poisoned.'

Ja'far looked at her for a couple of seconds before replying. 'I can do it myself.'

Judi's face fell a little and she pouted childishly. 'Fair enough.' Then she picked up the white cotton fabric and extended it to reveal a white long sleeved shirt. 'Please wear this from now on.'

'Thank you, Judi.' Sinbad thanked from his position on the mattress. He was laying sidelong with his head on the palm of his hand, his other arm resting lazily over his stomach, one knee bent and his other leg relaxed. It brought a smile to Judi's face.

'You look every bit like a king, Your Highness.' She commented making Sinbad's eyes widen and Ja'far snort.

'Bring him a bottle of wine and female company and you'll have _King_ Sinbad.'

With another cheeky grin, Judi left them alone.

'She looked like she was going to start crying.' Sinbad noted as he scooped some aloe into his palm and proceeded to rub it gently onto Ja'far's arm.

'You like her.' The smaller man remarked, following Sinbad's hands with his eyes. 'You also show her that smile that you show me sometimes.'

Sinbad stilled and looked at Ja'far's face, searching his eyes. Ja'far looked at him allowing him to read his emotions. 'Is that why you don't like her? Because I fancy her?'

Ja'far frowned and yanked on his arm. Sinbad was expecting it though and tightened his grip causing the younger male to hiss again.

'You're jealous.'

'I'm not!'

'You resent her.'

'You're mine!'

Ja'far's almost yell made them both stop all their movement. Sinbad's lips formed that smile that Ja'far had mentioned and he promptly kissed him square on the mouth, licking a trail on his burned lips and coaxing the other to play. Their tongues battled and danced and smeared saliva all over their chins in their passion. Sinbad kissed it all away though and brought their foreheads together earning yet another hiss from Ja'far.

'I am yours, Ja'far. I love you and I always will. That is never going to change.'

'But you also like her.' Ja'far whispered. 'I don't want to share you.'

'She's a girl, Ja'far. It's completely different.' Sinbad's eyes locked with Ja'far's, his tender smile never leaving but tainted with a nervous uncertainty. Ja'far didn't have an answer to that.

Sinbad knew that the smaller one hated it when he turned on his seductive switch but didn't say anything because, in spite of not caring that he was eleven years old, he knew not everyone would be receptive of such a relationship. Not that the others didn't know, but there was still a principle to being the head of the Company.

'How about I leave the judging to you, then.' He suggested.

Ja'far's reaction to that statement was highly amusing. He blushed furiously and became outraged by what he most likely believed to be a preposterous suggestion. 'What the hell are you talking about, stupid?'

Sinbad chuckled grabbing Ja'far's arm again and continuing to spread the cooling plant mash on his skin. 'Well, the fact is not that you'll be sharing me so much as we'll both be sharing her.'

'W-what? Sin, are you out of your mind? She's a pirate. The very one who kidnapped us and stole our metal vessels! You can't be serious!'

'She did save your life and I like to think I have a good judgement for people's characters. I fell in love with you at first sight after all…' Sinbad paused again to choose his words. It was now or never and he didn't want to mess it up.

'You see, I am very selfish in spite of everything, yet the fact remains that I also like beautiful women. The problem is that you don't like it. And you're right to hate it, because I've tied you to me and I have no intention of ever letting you go.' Sinbad adverted his gaze to the jar once again and grabbed Ja'far's other arm, the pause allowed the information to sink into the ex-assassin's head.

Sinbad made eye contact once more and placed a chaste kiss on Ja'far's lips. His heart was throbbing. He really wanted Ja'far to agree to this, or at the very least to give it a try because there is nothing he wouldn't do for his lover. Even give up women altogether. But they have never been with women. He himself had never been with anyone else before for that matter.

'I am very selfish.' He repeated. 'I know I have no right to ask this of you, Ja'far, but…I would very much like you to like her as well. I'd like the girl to be ours and not only mine. I want to give you my everything and I really mean everything. Including this. Could you at least try? I promise you I will not bring any of this up again if you reject this idea in the end…'

Any further rambling was lost to the wind when Ja'far kissed him with earnest. 'You're too fucking selfish…I can't promise I'll like it and it will be hard, but…I'll try. I'll do it for you, Sin.'

Sinbad's smile couldn't get any brighter and his heart soared through the sky as he hugged his lover tightly to his chest murmuring words of love and adoration. He'd make sure to do this the right way. He'd show Ja'far a whole new world of pleasure and still a lot more after that.

After a while though, Ja'far pushed him gently back groaning about his burned face.

'Let's get this stuff on your face, shall we?' Sinbad offered with a smile as he scooped more of that smelly medicine and spread it on top of the still-very-much-visible freckles.

Sinbad seemed so happy that Ja'far had agreed, the later couldn't bring himself to hate the idea like he knew he should.

And then it hit him…

'Oh! I have just figured something out…' Ja'far said and turned to Sinbad with a knowing and somewhat evil smirk. 'You like your lovers young, don't you?'

Sinbad spurted at that and Ja'far laughed.

'I just thought…since she's older than you and you've both been through similar things…'

Ja'far looked at Sinbad genuinely confused. 'We're the same age, though.' Then his expression changed to an annoyed one and he glared at Sinbad, even though the other looked positively horrified. 'You only thought that because she's taller, didn't you?'

'What do you mean you're the same age?!' Sinbad asked, now panicking completely. His face twisted into a horrified frown. 'No, she's older! She has to be! Oh, no! I really am a paedophile, Ja'far! Forget this…it's better…'

Ja'far didn't have the courage to hit Sinbad at all. It seemed that the age matter really was important to him. He would hate it if it became a complex for Sinbad so he cupped the troubled teen's face and kissed him.

'You know that I love you right?'

Sinbad nodded.

'And being the same age, from the same kind of background, I am sure Judi is also capable of falling in love with you.'

Sinbad looked like he was about to cry, but he nodded once again.

'We don't have to do anything yet. Hinahoho told me that girls mature faster than boys, so she'll be the same mental age as you in no time.'

'Fuck…' Sinbad sighed, but he seemed to accept this reasoning so Ja'far kissed him again.

'Just, please keep rubbing that on me, it really does feel good.'

They both looked at each other for a moment before Sinbad broke down laughing, clutching his stomach.

'You pervert!' Ja'far shouted and hit him hard on the head.

The laughter didn't end until they were both breathless from it.

* * *

Life on board the brigantine continued on with hard work, fake insults, witty banters and, on Ja'far's part, burns. The long sleeves had definitely been an improvement, no discussions there. Ja'far's pale complexion though, was like a white canvas on a coal mine and his face was easily burned, even after the first month had passed. Granted, he'd gotten a bit tanner and it didn't hurt as much. He wasn't complaining either since he got to keep the aloe Judi had given them that second night. He was only afraid that it'd finish, but Judi assured him with that cocky attitude of hers that by the time that was supposed to happen he'd be a full-fledged sailor with no need for aloe. His wound was almost healed as well which mean more work and more time outside.

Hurray to that…

One particular day the Captain had decided that the barnacles needed to be scrapped off the keel so both Sinbad and Ja'far, along with half a dozen other unfortunate sailors had been hauled down to complete said task.

The day was incredibly hot and there was no breeze so the oars had been out for part of the morning, until they'd spotted a seemingly abandoned island and dropped anchor. Some sailors were sent to get fresh water, food and resin to serve them as a temporary fix for some of the damaged parts of the ship. Maintenance was a bitch.

'It sure is hot today.' Sinbad commented while whipping the sweat on his brow with the back of his arm.

Ja'far smirked and looked up. Judi was there, leaning against the rail of the ship looking at the horizon with a longing, almost forlorn expression that was completely new to both boys. Sometimes she would look down at her two charges at the same time they looked up at her and she would smile.

Ja'far had been observing Judi for the past weeks, noticing her movements, her little quirks and habits. He noticed that she pulls lightly on her earring when she's nervous, noticed when she got her left ear pierced a second time recently and how it got a slight infection that was gone the next day and, much to Sinbad's charging, he also noticed how her body looked with her tanned skin, strong arms, her emerald eyes. He started wondering how it would feel to run his hands through her hair, if it would feel the same as Sinbad's, or how would she react when he exposed her prepubescent breasts that were sure to grow full and plum in the spam of short years. He'd touched a woman's breasts before, by accident, but he'd never been so curious and positively turned on by the prospects of finding out just how far did that tanned colour reached under her clothes. He wondered in his ignorance what other touches would make that girl writhe in pleasure like Sinbad had done to him countless times before.

'You're blushing, Ja'far.' Sinbad noted with a grin on his face, his amusement plain evident on his face made Ja'far's blush intensify tenfold.

'I-it's your fault, idiot!' the white haired man growled and turned to the task at hand with renewed vigour. 'You're corrupting me!'

Sinbad gave a hearty laugh. His new favourite game of busting Ja'far when he was staring at Judi had yet to become old since the ex-assassin's reactions never ceased to amuse him. 'I thought I was the one being corrupted by you!'

Ja'far shoved him playfully away from him.

'Stop dilly dallying you mongrels and get to work!' Judi reprimanded from above, the smile on her lips contradicting the fake bite of her tongue.

'Aye, Ma'am!' both men saluted when they spotted the big quartermaster hovering just behind Judi and focused on pulling those infuriating barnacles. How the hell did the other men do it?

'You look lovely today, as usual, Judi!' added Sinbad, with a smirk.

'Shush it, you sly dog!' Judi hushed him, blushing and grinning.

That was a new thing Sinbad had taken to do. Every day since his talk with Ja'far, Sinbad would shamelessly flirt with Judi to try and wind both her and Ja'far up. During Judi's visits at night, Sinbad would touch her more and plant random kisses on her hands and cheeks or simply hold her hands while they talked. During her banters with Ja'far the he would hug them both, effectively stopping their wits' match and making them both blush. He was glad his male charms were working once again and he decided he would stop dwelling in the matter of their ages else he drove himself up the walls with guilty concern. All in all, he figured this situation could have been entirely different, worse, instead of the enjoyable nights they were spending on board the ship. Ja'far was patiently following Sinbad's lead and not trying to escape, knowing full well in his heart that they'd be fine, that Sinbad would make sure of that.

Hours went past fairly quickly that afternoon and soon the sun was beginning to set and the other sailors were being pulled up from the barnacles to go and get a bite to eat. Sinbad and Ja'far were finished with their part of the keel just when the air started to get cold and called up to Judi. It downed on them that she'd been gone for a while and they exchanged looks. Maybe the quartermaster, whose name they learned to be Aqrab, was there in her stead. It wasn't uncommon for Judi to disappear for periods of time of a couple of hours at a time leaving her subordinate to care for them when the Captain gave her a different task or simply summoned her away, but she'd never left them before without a warning beforehand.

It was then that they heard her voice, low and hollow, the words too silent to be intelligible from that distance. Ja'far took a hold of the rope on one side of the wooden plank they've been working on and swiftly and silently climbed the side of the ship. Stealth was his element after all. The scene he saw when he peeked onto the deck made his anger boil to a point he was concerned he wouldn't be able to control. Fortunately Sinbad held him back when he also climbed his way up, albeit a tad more clumsily.

The Captain was holding Judi with a hand on her waist and her chin on his fingers as he whispered lewd words into her lips. Judi would answer in time, playing the part with a lowered voice that shot arrows of extreme discomfort at the unexpected voyeurs.

Then the Captain kissed Judi's cheek before letting her go only to stare at her in a pensive stance for a few seconds. Judi stood valiantly looking at Rigel expecting her next orders. "Go." was the words that commanded her and the black bearded man walked across deck, towards his quarters, closing himself in. Judi waited courageously standing until the man was out of sight to collapse on her knees and take deep breaths.

Ja'far wasted no time in jumping back on deck and rushing to her side. She looked up at the sound of their footsteps and swore under her breath.

'You were not supposed to have seen that…' she said, her voice hoarse. Her perfect composed façade was so familiar that it squeezed Ja'far's heart and, before he could even begin to comprehend his own actions, he hugged her to his chest. He shocked both himself and Judi, but when that moment passed, it was replaced with feelings so big, so entirely unfit for their small bodies that they found themselves crying. Ja'far hid his face on white locks of hair while Judi used Ja'far's chest to muffle her sobs. Their complete rapport was immense for them, for they had seen the same things, had been to the same places, met the same kind of people…but Ja'far also met Sinbad. The teenager who was now encasing them both in his arms, not totally clueless, aware that this was so much bigger than he would ever comprehend, no matter how much he knew of their past; the same teenager who saved him and who loved him and who now also loved the sobbing girl in his own arms. Ja'far felt that he wanted, he _yearned_ to share the love, to include this person in their connection, to be able to save her in the same manner he was saved.

They couldn't linger, though. The rest of the crew would soon be finished with their dinner and scatter around the ship for a last game of luck before going to bed and effectively cut their way to their cage. Sinbad gently pointed this out to the other two and Ja'far promptly hauled Judi back to her feet. They cleaned their faces as best as they could and Judi walked behind them like the superior she was to them on board the ship, but she was clearly not okay and  _has the way to our cage always been this long?_

As soon as they were in the safety of the cage, the three of them sat on the eternally humid mattress. Sinbad leaned his back on the wall and guided Ja'far to sit in between his parted legs, knees bent. In an extremely rare display of affection towards others other than Sinbad, Ja'far hugged Judi and had her siting in between his own legs with hers around his waist. Her mellow disposition spoke volumes to the ex-assassin. He knew that once open, the Pandora box that contained their true selves could not be closed again. They could fake their façades as much as they pleased and lie even to their best friends successfully, but it would no longer be effortless. The wall encasing and protecting their true selves from their crafty assassin selves had been broken and now it was their true selves who would bear the burden of their actions.

'Why didn't you push him away?' Sinbad asked in a soft voice after a while of considerate silence. He was combing his fingers through Ja'far's hair at the same time his other hand caressed Judi's shoulder tenderly.

'I can't act against him.' Judi answered in a whisper, no longer crying. She cleared her throat and continued. 'I am, in a sense, his property.'

'You're a slave?' asked Sinbad with trepidation thanks to his own experience as a slave. He knew it wasn't uncommon for pirates to kidnap people and make them their slaves on board their ships, but it was a common notion that having a girl on board was bad luck so he was surprised. That wasn't the case apparently as the white haired girl shook her head in denial.

'When I ran from the Organization I killed many of them, but they captured me. They poisoned me and left me to die. Rigel found me. There was a man from Heliohapt who knew about herbs in the crew and he conditioned me to the poison. He conditioned me to many other poisons that the Organization didn't have, taught them to me. He said we're both from the same country, so we have to know our own strengths…' Judi's voice as she told her story was that of a person who was resigned to their fate. She was telling her story as if it was a fairy tale, detached. Such bland tone knocked at home's doorstep for Ja'far and he tightened his embrace on the girl. Sinbad merely listened with his eyes closed and his nose buried in Ja'far's hair.

Judi continued on. 'Rigel took me in as his own child so when I spent more time with this man, Rigel told me to kill him. That was something I am used to and Rigel knows it.' Judi paused and adjusted her position a bit. 'But then Rigel demanded payment for saving my life…'

Ja'far wasn't surprised at the level of anger he felt towards Rigel. The story Judi just told wasn't an uncommon one after all. He could easily compare it to many other unfortunate fates he'd come across in his life

I found your metal vessel.' Judi confessed after minutes of calm comfort and feeling the safer she's ever felt in the arms of the two boys, currently her prisoners. 'The key to the cupboard in always around his neck, but they are on display. I'd have to have the right timing.'

'You're not doing it.' Ja'far interrupted her planning with a firm denial. Sinbad's eyes opened and he looked at his lover. 'We'll find another way to get my Balalark Sei and get the hell out of here.'

'Ja'far…' Judi murmured, her surprise evident in her voice. 'I can't just act differently now. He'll give me to the rest of the crew after having his merry way with me!'

Ja'far clicked his tongue knowing she was right. For the first time since he almost lost Sinbad he felt his feelings interfere with his thoughts so he gathered them and collected his composure. He re realised he'd become attached to the girl he'd met years before and who mirrored a life that could have easily been his, had he ever wanted to run away from the Organization, instead of being ripped from it.

They knew there was no other way. They had to continue living the life they were leading up until then to safely find a way out of that ship. At the moment thought, their exhaustion allowed the white haired pair to fall deeply asleep on Sinbad's arms.

Sinbad had remained uncharacteristically silent the whole time, mulling over one solution he'd found for their problem. He had actually been marinating it in his head for a few days when he realised the course the ship was taking, but he was sure the two people currently in his arms wouldn't like it any more than he did.

Sinbad decided that he'd discuss his suspicions with Ja'far and Judi in the morning. He carefully laid both of them on the mattress, scooping them close to himself and the three of them slept peacefully until morning came.

* * *

'Where's Judi?' Rigel asked Aqrab that morning when his breakfast was brought to him by an ugly human mountain instead of his precious little girl. Judi had failed to show up the night before and he didn't want to have to punish her again. When he'd done it the first time, the child learned that there was no opposing him or disobeying him and she's followed this rule as if it was her religion.

'I haven't seen her all morning, Captain. I knocked on her door when I though she was late, but she wasn't there.' Aqrab answered dutifully trying and failing to hide an ugly satisfied and hopeful smirk.

The Captain came to the conclusion that it was time to remind that insolent child where her place lay. He slapped Aqrab's face hard.

'Wipe that smile off your horrible face and bring me the cat o'nine tails.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fanfiction is officially completely edited! I will be posting the remaining 3 chapters in the next few days for sure! I had to post this separately because this fanfiction was sitting on my desktop for years before I picked it up! Yesterday I finished Writing the very last chspter and I have never felt this nervous about a fanfiction before! 
> 
> I hope whoever reads it, likes it!


	5. Punishment and Hidden Messages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Captain isn't happy...and when the Captain isn't happy, dangerous times will follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to everyone who is leaving me kudos! You keep me publishing!
> 
> Thanks to my friend again for always downloading and reading this straight after being updated! You're the best friend a writer could have, man!

When she woke up, Judi panicked. She didn't know what time it was. She was missing from her duties, that she was sure of and she scrambled her brain for an excuse that would please the Captain. It would obviously have to be served with a side of _extra duties_ for the man to swallow it, though, but she quickly realised she'd do it if it meant she'd keep Sinbad and Ja'far safe. She tried to stand up but there was a weight on her waist and her legs and she quickly remembered her- _their_  sleeping arrangements. She blushed a thousand shades of red at the sight of Ja'far's sleeping face and at the fact that it was so close to hers she could feel the other's breath on her own lips. She brought a hand to his skin, her fingers hovering just above his cheek, moving to his eyelids, his nose, around his freckles and his parted lips.

'Adorable isn't he?' Sinbad commented, rubbing some sleep from his eyes and startling Judi out of her adoration spell.

'I-I wasn't…!' she sputtered embarrassedly, retracting her hands in a rush.

Sinbad grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, planting a soft kiss on the palm and smiled. 'This is a very nice way to wake up, don't you think?'

Judi blushed even harder but didn't even try to take her had away from the teenager. Feeling daring, with her heartbeat soaring through the sky, she leaned in and planted her own chaste and uncertain kiss on Sinbad's unexpecting lips, then, as quick as it happened, she hid her face once again in the crook of Ja'far's neck, knowing that the ex-assassin was most likely already awake.

Sinbad's eyes widened at the little contact. His own heartbeat had accelerated tenfold bringing a small blush to his face and his fingertips to his lips. _Now this is an unexpected turn of events._ He decided he liked it.

'It's been a while since I've seen Sinbad blush from a woman's advances on him.' Ja'far commented pulling Sinbad back to the land of the living. The small smile the white haired boy was sporting reassured Sinbad that yes, this was okay; that they were all fine. Sinbad's heart soared with giddy happiness at that moment and he thought he could explode from the overwhelming amount of love he felt.

The younger boy kissed his master good morning quite languidly with uncontrollable butterflies in his stomach before turning to the nervous bundle in his arms. 'Could I get a kiss as well, Miss Judi?' he whispered to her ear in a husky voice that masked his own nervousness and waited patiently while she actually gathered the courage to leave her protective cocoon and finally look up with a bright red face.

But before any of them could react, the sight of the two men hovering above her dropped her like a boulder into the present and her eyes widened. She tumbled off the bed to her feet clumsily, hitting Ja'far's chin with her forehead in the process and peeking out of the open cage door to make sure they were still alone.

'Hurry up! If they find out I slept here we'll be begging for Davy Jones' locker!' she hissed. 'What time is it, anyway?'

The other two didn't have time to process the information or the sudden change from the lovey-dovey atmosphere to a panicked and frantic one when heavy steps were heard coming down the stairs and the corridor, announcing the appearance of no one other Captain Rigel himself.

'I missed you, Judi my dear.' He said, leaning against the frame of the cage's door, his expression gloomy and completely serious. Absolute bad news for the other three occupants of the room and Sinbad read big trouble in the Captain's rigid stance. Ja'far could taste the desire for blood in the air around them coming from Rigel.

'I lost track of time, Captain.' Judi explained bowing her head, feigning embarrassment. 'It won't happen again, I promise!' she curled her fists to her side in fear of the Captain's reaction.

The Captain smiled, noticing the girl's trembling fists and approached her with a sigh. 'My, dear. You didn't do it on purpose, did you?' Judi shook her head, still bowed and she stiffened when the man hugged her shoulders. 'You've had so much work to do, watching these mongrels day and night. I'll relieve you of that work. What do you think, my dear?'

Those words were worse than a death sentence to her. Judi's heart dropped to the sole of her feet. Relieving one of their work, in Captain Rigel's language meant either killing them or punishing them so severely that they wouldn't be able to perform said work. Judi didn't want to feel the wrath of the Captain again. Once had been enough!

'I will accept whatever fate you command on me, Captain.' She vowed with more courage than what she actually felt, swallowing to try and dislodge the knot that her fear had tied  vocal cords into and looked up at the tall man with the tears in her eyes threatening to roll. _What the fuck is wrong with me? I can do better than this shitty acting!_ 'And I will dutifully continue to carry on the task you have assigned me and every other I have ever been in charge of.'

The Captain caressed her check with a tender smile. Judi didn't move.

'You've always been my sweet spot, dear Judi…but you've been a bad child this time!'

Sinbad and Ja'far watched horrified as the Captain's tender and loving face morphed into one of rage in less than a second and the hand that had previously been on Judi's face crashed into it violently, turning her head to the side.

The pain was immense. Her whole face hurt and she could see nothing but white in front of her eyes. It didn't matter however as she turned her face back to the Captain, offering it for the second blow, this time to her other cheek. Her tears poured silently from her eyes, both from pain and the fear she didn't know how to bottle up anymore, the clear salty drops landed on Ja'far's cheek and Sinbad's hands with the impact of the blow.

Sinbad and Ja'far watched her turn her face back again, ready for the third blow.

Then the fourth…

The fifth…

The tenth…

The Captain pulled out a whip with nine knotted thongs of yarn when blood started pouring out of her nose.

'Ten lashes for your insolence. Sinbad,' He called with the coldest voice he could manage. 'hold her up for me.'

When Sinbad didn't move in his shocked state, the Captain signalled for Aqrab to grab Judi as she stood up on her shaky legs. The big bulky man placed her hands around Sinbad's neck brusquely, the purple haired teenager holding her waist by reflex, and ripped her vest and top, exposing her back completely to them. Judi didn't protest or fight, but Sinbad felt her raged breathing and her trembling as she tucked her head in the crook of his neck. And it dawned on him with great dread what was going to happen.

Captain Rigel unrolled the whip, threw his hand back and lashed her. The punishing blow left a series of red strings on the skin of Judi's back that started to bleed out by the time the second lash was delivered. Judi's arms tightened around Sinbad, her breath coming out in pants, gasps of pain punctuating each strike and her tears soaked through his shirt. He'd never been so afraid before, so positively frozen to the spot since Maader, but he knew that begging would only make the situation worse for Judi. He let his tears fall freely though, because he wouldn't be able to stop them if he tried and tried he did while rubbing small comforting circles on Judi's hips with his hands. If Judi felt them she didn't show.

The Captain's breath was raged by the ninth blow and no words were exchanged as the man reset his arm back and prepared to deliver the last lash, but his wrist collided with the palm of Ja'far's hand instead. A second later the punch the child threw was blocked in the exact same fashion as he blocked the Captain's arm.

Sinbad called Ja'far's name at the same time the white haired pirate stumbled out of his arms. A pair of small hands violently yanked back the white haired boy's collar and his vision was filled with the beaten, bloody face of a very angry Judi, her breath right on him as she spoke in a hiss colder than anything he'd felt when spoken to since he met Sinbad.

'Do you have a dead wish, you worthless vermin?'

'Judi…' he breathed and his hands covered hers at the front of his borrowed shirt. Her hands tightened, effectively cutting his air supply. Ja'far suppressed his survival instinct, understanding then what the girl's intentions were and how bad he would have messed up if his fist had actually collided with the Captain's face. _What the fuck is wrong with me? Just what the fuck have you done to me, Sin?_

Next to them Sinbad stood up with his hands outstretched to separate them, but he was stopped by the point of the Captain's blade on his neck. The man sported his serious face still, but not completely devoid of any anger. In fact, Sinbad could feel an immense blood lust coming from Rigel in waves. The head of Sindria Trading Company cursed the fact that he didn't have his metal vessels on him for the hundredth time since he was kidnapped. This situation was escalating way out of control way too fast.

'You try that one more time and I'll make sure you'll curse every second of your pathetic existence, am I clear?' Judi threatened.

Ja'far wheezed a weak “yes Ma'am…”

'I can't hear you! AM I CLEAR OR NOT?!' yelled Judi with her nose touching Ja'far's and smearing blood over his pale skin.

The former assassin almost feared for his safety the instant he realized he wouldn't have fought back even if he had his Balalark Sei on him. He didn't want to hurt this girl who had him by the neck, even if she killed him. The thought conjured a very vivid image of Sinbad's smiling face to the back of his eyelids and he yelled a desperate “YES MA'AM!”

Judi threw him down on the floor with unnecessary force and turned to her Captain with her hardened look, waiting further punishment or command. Captain Rigel's grin couldn't get any bigger…or scarier.

'This is precisely why I have never regretted taking you on board, my beautiful Judi.' He cooed sarcastically before turning around and barking out orders.

'Get these mongrels ready for work!'

'Aye, sir!' Judi assented firmly and turned to Sinbad and Ja'far, the later glaring at her with all he had while Captain Rigel was still there. 'You heard the Captain, move!'

Neither of them attempted to follow the order. Their glares eased however as soon as the sounds of the Captain and Quartermaster's steps faded; relief from his departure flowing to them in waves so big they forced remnants of tears to roll down their faces. The loudness of their blood flowing in their ears made the rush of adrenaline that much more evident.

Ja'far looked up from his position on the floor and brought a hand to his neck where Sinbad noticed a bruise forming. The both of them stepped up to Judi and gently tilted her swollen face to inspect the damage.

'That was too rough. Are you okay, Judi?'

In a second, she grabbed both their wrists and twisted, making both males turn mid-air and crash painfully on the floor.

'Don't get comfortable with me! Your chances of ever seeing your beloved friends again have gone out the window for good! You are nothing more than a couple of slaves now so move your lazy asses, we have work to do!'

The tension around them grew thick with every passing second as realisation befell right on Sinbad and Ja'far full force. This wasn't the same Judi they woke up with. They knew she intended to close off to them, to become the pirate she never wanted to be, a wall that would keep Rigel away from them. To Sinbad this was unnecessary. They were strong! They could handle the Captain!

Ja'far was the first to stand up. His eyes were wide and unbelieving. Judi continued to glare at them.

'You don't mean it…' Sinbad stated from the floor, his head tilted all the way upward to meet her gaze upside down.

'I have never been more serious in my life. I'll give you one more warning: get the fuck ready before you dance the yardarm jig.' She muttered with the same frigid coldness.

Ja'far assumed a fighting stance and charged at her, now furiously confused and feeling betrayal sink its sharp fangs on him. His fist never made it to her face, seeing as he was acting on emotions, making it easy for Judi to grab his wrist once again. The white haired assassin was no fool, though and he was ready for it this time around; twisting his own body and swinging his legs forward, aiming for her neck. Judi's eyes narrowed and she grabbed both legs before they could hit her, swinging the smaller boy down to the floor again with a cry. Ja'far's back hit the wood boards hard and all the wind got knocked out of his lungs. In a flash, Judi straddled him with her knees on his palms and brought her shiny gold dagger to his neck in a clear threat to Ja'far's life. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sinbad move and yelled: 'One more step and I'll slice his fucking throat open!'

'Judi…'

'Do you get it now?! You're slaves! Useless mongrels! And you'll follow my every command as I see the fuck fit or I'll slice you into pieces so tiny not even Davy Jones will want you!'

Judi looked Ja'far in the eyes, meeting his glare with one of her own, her temporarily disfigured face making the expression even more intimidating. 'Get to fucking work, now!'

She stood up, sheathed her dagger and retreated to the cage's door holding her torn clothes to her chest. As she doubled the corner Sinbad could swear on his life that he saw her face contorted in deep pain and her tears freely falling from her swollen eyes down her bloody cheeks and busted lips.

It didn't matter, though. As things stood now, the merchant pair had lost their only ally on board the brigantine. He held a hand out to Ja'far and hugged him close to his chest, planting soft kisses on his head.

_Well fuck…_

* * *

Judi had had to do many hard choices in her life and many more sacrifices she dared to even remember, but that morning topped the cake by a far cry. The irate glares from Sinbad and Ja'far stabbed the last little piece of her soul she had managed to protect throughout the years and destroyed it, ripped it to shreds and left her with a bleeding mess with no hope whatsoever to ever mend. So she threw whatever bits of her previous self she had away and embraced that cruel, heartless pirate Rigel always wanted her to be.

For Sinbad and Ja'far's sake.

That morning she had seen the killing intent on the Captain's stance and for the first time in her life, she feared for another's life more than her own. Because in the short month and odd days they were there, Sinbad and Ja'far showed her another reality, an alternative so much better than hers, so beautiful and precious and so frail. And she loved it. She dared hope she might one day be a part of it…so she decided she would forever protect that. She wouldn't taint light with her eroding presence anymore. She'd treasure those memories as her most happy memories and remember them as she loved both of them and the country she would never get to see secretly and silently inside her heart.

Sinbad and Ja'far would make it out alive and well and Rigel would have no say in it even if it killed her.

Chances were it'd kill her.

Two days later Captain Rigel ordered Judi to bring the prisoners to the great cabin to have dinner with him and she would be the entertainment.

Sinbad and Ja'far were roughly escorted by Aqrab and pushed down onto a pair of sturdy wooden chairs in front of a matching dining table. They were presented with twin plates of soup and cups of water. The set and the cutlery was the same as usual and so was the food, completely out of place in the fine dining set, just as they were, slaves of pirates. Sitting on the corner of the cabin was a man playing a string musical instrument. His legs were missing.

Rigel came in through the door that led to his chambers, escorting Judi by her hand.

The pair of prisoner's breath was taken from their lungs at the sight of the female pirate. She was wearing a sheer red bedlah, her intimate parts covered to their eyes only by the shining belts around her hips and her torso. They felt a pang of pain at the empty look in Judi's eyes as she was guided to climb on the table, her bare feet adorned with gold chains attached to toe rings and anklets, as were her hands and arms. Her silver piercings had been exchanged by gold loops and on her head were beaded pearls, almost invisible atop her white hair. There was also a piercing on her bellybutton.

'Now, Judi, dear, dance.'

Oh, how she danced. Judi's hips swayed sensually at the rhythm of the music, her feet stepping nimbly on the wooden surface of the dining table graciously carrying her body back and forth and she undulated it like calm waves in a beach, her arms delicately circled around herself. Her expression was serene with her eyes closed and parted lips.

Sinbad and Ja'far ignored their food in favour of watching the show presented to them with barely contained anger. The meaning behind this debauchery was that Judi belonged to Rigel, just like everything inside the ship. The Captain was making it clear to them that he could and would command everything as per his will and those who dared defy him would face disproportionate consequences. This display of utter submission by such a powerful girl spoke volumes of the fate the Captain reserved for the three of them.

_There is no escape. There is no freedom. Obey and your suffering will be minimal. That's how my world works. That's how our world works._

Judi started breathing heavily from the physical activity; a light sheen of sweat covered her skin. Her movements were followed by the jiggling of her jewellery that captivated all male eyes to the libidinous swirling of her body. When the dance reached its climax, Judi opened her eyes, just a slit of green irises, and she looked at the pair of prisoners while her body flashed all types of moves that bordered on lewd, her heart beating fast and erratically inside her chest.

Sinbad grabbed Ja'far's hand under the table, either to stay him of himself, he wasn't sure. He would not let himself succumb to the manipulation of others a second time. Him and Ja'far were not part of this world and they would snatch Judi away.

_I don't care if I am the man loved by destiny or not anymore. I will protect what's important with my own two hands. We. Are. Free._

Then the music ended and Rigel stood up, holding his hand out for Judi to take it. He hugged her shoulders as soon as she was firmly on the floor and turned to Sinbad and Ja'far.

'Tomorrow you will be helping me to capture a dungeon.' The Captain ordered, looking down at Sinbad. 'I see that you seem to care for my dear Judi. She is precious indeed, but I will kill her before handing her over to you. Now that we're clear on that, I am negotiating the terms of your release.'

'You plan on letting me go if I capture that Dungeon, why?' asked Sinbad more than a little angry.

'No, you're not capturing anything. I am. You and your vassal will be free only when I have the power of the djinn.' Explained Rigel as his hand traced the seams of Judi's top and the gold jewellery all the way down to a growing mound of flesh, his fingers leisurely drawing patterns around her nipple.

Ja'far was positively seething, gripping the edge of the table with enough strength to break a chunk off it.

_By release he means death…_

'Alright. We'll go in the dungeon with you and when we come out we will walk away and you will forever disappear from my sight.' Sinbad agreed, squeezing Ja'far's hand under the table.

Rigel didn't answer. He grinned evilly instead before turning and taking Judi with him to his bed chambers.

'Take your…plates with you when you finish eating.'

They took their food back to the kitchen and dumped it out of the window, plates and all.

* * *

The next day Captain had organized a party of strong sailors that included Judi, Rigel himself and the two prisoners, to enter the dungeon. He gave the white haired girl strict orders to assess Sinbad's and Ja'far's fighting skills while he navigated the ship to the place he'd marked only in his own map.

Judi followed her orders as if she didn't know how to do anything else. She brought the two boys up to the deck and attacked them, throwing punch after punch and kick after kick until the duo had no other choice but to retaliate instead of only defending. The three of them engaged in an impromptu sparring match that, curiously enough looked more like a three way dance than a fight and that made the participants smile unconsciously. The rest of the crew quickly formed a circle around them. They cheered for their fellow pirate in the two against one fight with crude words and sayings and made bets on who was going to win.

Judi was strong. Sinbad and Ja'far had known that, but having teamed up against her and not won immediately showed them just how much they underestimated her. She also had an advantage: they were used to fighting with their weapons and metal vessels and she wasn't. Her fighting style refined to include her life as a pirate greatly rivalled that of theirs by her underhanded tactics and surprise moves. She was as fluid fighting as she was dancing.

Their match ended hours later in a tie as the three of them fell on their backs in a circle, exhausted. The rest of the crew had long left them to it to tend to their own duties, growing bored with the long fight, with the exception of two men who had nothing better to do than to observe. They'd leaned against the gunwall commenting their moves and applauded when they finished before they too made themselves scarce.

'I haven't had such a thrilling fight since I fought Ja'far!' Sinbad confessed with a laugh enjoying the salty breeze of the sea on his overheated skin. 'He doesn't spar with me anymore though…'

'Someone has to make sure you don't cross the line of too much recklessness.' Ja'far said with no real bite in his words.

Judi giggled. Her heart was racing still and her breathing was ragged. A couple of seconds later she rolled her head upwards and was met by Sinbad's eyes, the teen mirroring her position with a smile. Ja'far imitated them shortly after, looking at them as they caught their breath, taking in the still bruised and swollen face of the girl that saved their lives.

'Well done, Judi, my dear.' Captain Rigel praised as he descended the steps from the quarterdeck, effectively breaking whatever spell the trio had immersed themselves into.

Judi stood up first, assuming her authoritative posture once again, her smile long gone.

Disappointment tasted bitter in Sinbad's and Ja'far's tongues as it tied their hearts with painful frustration.

Rigel had taken Judi into his cabin after she returned the prisoners to their living quarters and praised her to the high sky for her show of undying faithfulness to him. He'd been so happy he told her that it had always been his plan to get Sinbad to guide them inside that dungeon they'd found in a deserted island. According to him they had been going in circles for the past weeks around the dungeon, while he tested the prisoner's strength on board the ship and hardened them to the dungeon's dangers.

He believed he'd been training them.

Judi had remained impassive during the whole tirade remembering that Sinbad had mentioned their route at one point. When she was finally dismissed she was carrying with her the powerful Balalark Sei and a pair of golden scimitars, with instructions to “kill the assassin if any of them try anything funny”. She'd defeated him twice after all, right? Never mind that the first time he had been caught off guard and the second was a tie…

Judi didn't talk to the pair of prisoners aside from barked orders and criticised insults for their incompetence at completing a task, earning herself more dirty glares from her two beloved. She didn't visit their cage at night anymore, their door was firmly locked with a key and she didn't wake them up with a smile. During the days that followed she would look down on them as she had always been expected to and she would treat them as the slaves they have always been after letting themselves be captured.

The morning they arrived at the Dungeon, Sinbad found a dirty canvas bag next to their bed. Ja'far was sitting next to it with a note on his hands and a blank expression. When asked about it he just told the other that Judi had released their metal vessels. All of them.

That night, Ja'far had felt Judi sneaking in and leave the vessels, trying not to be noticed. She had used every technique she had learned at the Organization to make absolutely no sound as she set the bag down next to the mattress where Ja'far pretended to sleep next to Sinbad. He heard the scratching of a pen scribble away on a piece of parchment he would later find tied to the bag that contained their weapons.

Then, she sat down on the floor with her back to the two sleeping men.

Ja'far stared at that back, the back of a girl that had taken a very harsh punishment for seeking freedom, comfort and love and he remembered times when he would cry at his cursed fate. When he would feel his sanity slowly wasting away in the throes of pain and blood.

And then there was Sinbad.

Ja'far prayed to gods he didn't believe to let them take this girl with them. He felt connected to her. As if saving her would reaffirm the fact the he was free. Saving Judi meant freedom from crushing feelings of fear he thought he had gotten rid of.

The sound of Sinbad's breathing was calming and lulled Judi to a state of peace and bliss. For the thousandth time she wished she could be able to listen to that sound for the rest of her life, but the knowledge that she couldn't hurt her inside, even after she'd tried so hard to steel her heart. The knife she had stabbed it with twisted painfully and made it bleed. She couldn't hear Ja'far breathe, though, but it was okay. He had been an assassin. His presence would forever be concealed, even in death. Hers too. She'd waste away on the ship until the bitter years of her life were spent or she met the wrong end of a cutlass. In the end, she'd end up sinking to the locker with nothing but bittersweet memories and a broken soul.

'I really do love you…' she whispered as more tears rolled down her cheeks.

'Then let us help you.' Ja'far's voice whispered from behind her, way closer than where he'd been sleeping, startling her and making her breath catch. Judi didn't turn around, though, not even when Ja'far's scarred arms slid around her torso and he pressed himself tight against her back, his mouth breathing soft, silent puffs of air into her ear.

Judi whimpered when the boy's husky whisper came again. 'Sinbad loves you.' He said. 'He talked to me about his plans of stealing you away from here and taking you to Sindria Trading Company. I thought it was an awful idea.' Those whispering lips caught Judi's earlobe and bit down gently. Then he blew on it. 'But then I started looking at you. Really looking at you. And I realised, as I was being yelled at with all your desperation, that I love you too.'

Judi reached a hand to touch Ja'far's arms.

'Please, let us help you…'

And just like that the spell was broken.

Judi pried herself from Ja'far's embrace, looked at him with a miserable gaze and started walking away.

'Judi, we're taking you away from here.' Ja'far stated with all seriousness from his spot on the floor, his steely silver eyes locked with Judi's green ones.

She didn't answer. Instead she kept eye contact with a guilty expression for a few second and then left.

The note that she left was a warning against letting Rigel find out Sinbad had his weapons back. At the end of it, the ink had been smeared by her salty tears.

Sinbad and Ja'far made sure that the instructions were followed to the letter.

* * *

The next day had gone past like any other until the sun set. Rigel decided that was as good time as any to enter the dungeon. He justified his choice by saying that the darkness would cover the brigantine from the searching eyes of the Sindrian Merchant's allies. He left Aqrab in charge of the ship with a speech on how powerful and rich they would all be when he emerged from the building and orders to leave all lights off. They lowered the cock boats and rowed to coast leaving half a dozen men behind.

Judi had tied Sinbad and Ja'far's hands behind their backs and was now the proud holder of their leashes as they approached the island. She wasn't stupid. She knew that anything could happen inside that damned place and she knew that it was the perfect place to run away. But the Captain also knew this. He, however, counted on the fact that they would all be locked inside the same place so even if they escaped, the whole bunch of them was heading the same way. Besides, according to him, the slaves were unarmed, with the exception on the ex-assassin, who his most beloved Judi had completely defeated once, so there was no possibility of escape. He still allowed Judi to bring that pair of scimitars, just to be sure.

'March forth! Tonight we'll be rich!'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you remember how I said that this fanfiction was officially completely edited? Yeah, thanks to Sinobu Ohtaka I might as well have been lying. We had the same idea, how cool is that? Without spoiling anything, I was going to make Judi do what Ja'far just did in chapter 99, in the chapter 6 of this fanfiction.


	6. Saleos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making it home at the cost of much blood, sweat and tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my friend for reading my fanfiction and to the amazing people out there leaving me kudos! I update for you guys!

The dungeon was, in all its burning glory, a desert. As soon as they crossed the gate and travelled through the pillar of light, the group landed on the golden sand. This desert however was nothing like any other they'd seen before for the sand in the dungeon was moving. It undulated in waves identical to those of the sea. Sometimes the occasional object would "float" to the surface and remain adrift for a few seconds before another wave of sand would swallow it back to the depths.

Sinbad looked around for the tell-tale signals of the monsters that dungeons always seemed to have, but the scene in front of him was that of a desert/ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see. The group of seventy pirates and two prisoners advanced cautiously at the Captain's command, wobbling and stumbling as they moved forward.

The danger became clear after a couple of hours of fruitless walking. From beneath them, just as any other object, appeared a stone army with their sharp spears pointed to the skies. The prisoners, Judi and Rigel along with the few odd dozen of pirates managed to avoid them, but some of the men were painfully impaled on the stone weapons and, although not all of them suffered mortal wounds, they were promptly pulled under the sand when the statues were swallowed back down. It happened in the space of ten seconds and when it was over there wasn't even the slightest sign of blood.

The pirates that remained immediately panicked and started screaming and running around in circles like crazy roaches.

'Stand firm!' The Captain yelled to the rest of his crew successfully stopping their pointless frenzy. 'We won't let them die in vain! We keep going forward! To riches!'

The crew didn't lose their fear completely, but they had no choice in the matter anyway. They were terrified and all of them knew just who was going to come out of the dungeon alive. According to Sinbad, that did not include them them or Rigel.

Judi walked straight past her Captain, leash in hand and face as impassive as always as of late. Rigel was just beginning to wonder about the girl's reason and sanity and if she was indeed still loyal to him. Her actions, however disconcerting to the man, were not those of someone with mutiny on their heads, so he dropped the issue for the time being.

The next hours proved to be the death of every single sailor that accompanied the group as many other pointy objects or lose tall pillars and even ships! All sorts of random objects kept appearing from underneath the waves and killing the men Ja'far like to call "small fries" one after the other either by squashing them, dragging them underground or running them through. Soon the only ones left were Captain Rigel, Judi, Sinbad and Ja'far. They had been quicker to avoid death, but the pair of prisoners had had to be rescued several times due to the fact that their hands were bound and that incapacitated them.

Trying to walk only on tall waves was exhausting at best, but doing it while being tied up not only made it impossible but it dragged Sinbad, Ja'far and Judi down and while feeling the extraneous effort swap away their strength, Sinbad and Ja'far remained quiet, alert, assessing.

'We need them alive to guide us, Captain.' Judi reasoned with her eyes fixed on the man she was talking to portraying absolutely no emotion.

The Captain stared at the look of his first mate but ended up agreeing to her logic, albeit begrudgingly.

Judi hesitated for a moment when she got to Ja'far's hands as she saw Balalark Sei ready to be used, but he promptly pulled it back in a silent promise to behave and a flash of silver irises.

Sinbad was a different story. He grabbed Judi's wrists for a second and ran his thumb tenderly on the inside. He had tried to reassure her that he didn't hold it against her, but the girl showed no sign of understanding.

They continued to move forward, keeping on edge to evade obstacles and running out of stamina, until the sun was supposed to be setting. However, it just didn't. Just then, they realised that there was no point trying to navigate by the sun because, even though it was a desert and it was hot and dry there was no sun. Their journey was made that much slower by the fact that they had to avoid stepping on lower waves and getting killed by some random object there might be under the sand.

'Sin!' Called Ja'far with his eyes fixed somewhere on the horizon.

Sinbad and the others followed Ja'far's gaze. Something was moving in the distance, behind a veil of heat that distorted the image, but definitely moving.

'Is that…?' asked Judi, temporarily stupefied.

'A sea monster…' answered Sinbad.

'It's coming this way.' Informed Ja'far.

When the head of Sindria Trading Company looked at Rigel for his orders he thought for a brief moment that he was looking at an oversized child who had just been the target of a prank. He looked at them with the most misplaced dubious expression a grown man could wear, but it vanished and immediately replaced by his usual confidence when he realised the trio was looking at him expectantly.

'What are you looking at me for? Kill it!' the Captain ordered and while the trio adopted battle stances, Rigel was still frantically looking for said beast in the distance.

The Captain was off the mark by a couple of miles. A giant dragon-looking white serpent emerged from the sand right in front of his face with a mighty roar that froze even Sinbad's blood.

'Household Vessel, Balalark Sei!' Ja'far threw his twin knives at the head of the beast, sending powerful bolts of electricity through the red ropes, but the sharp weapon just bounced off the skin of the monster leaving but a tiny scorching mark where it hit.

'You useless brat!' screamed the Captain as he drew his sword and charged.

'Captain, stop!' yelled Judi, but she was too late. The snake had brandished its tail and hit the very large man, sending him flying a good mile off to the side, where he passed out on the undulating scorching sea.

The snake decided to dive under the sand at that moment, though. The three conscious fighters looked around trying to discern where it would attack next.

Their attention was drawn to an emerging white stone pillar to Judi's right. The pillar stood straight for a total of two seconds until the movement of the sand tipped it to the side and it came crashing down in the place where Ja'far had been a moment before. He landed safely on Sinbad's left and they watched as the pillar was swallowed back underground.

A roar to the far left was the only warning they had that the sea creature had come back before it charged at Sinbad. Its advance was stopped when Judi threw her dagger at the thing's eye making it screech and squirm in pain while rubbing its eye on the sand to dislodge the golden dagger, unintentionally making the wound worse. The creature dived again taking Judi's dagger along.

Judi unsheathed the two scimitars the captain previously gave her. 'We can't keep making it run away. We kill it on the next assault!'

'You're still barking out orders? Can't you see we're trying to fucking help you?!' Ja'far growled from his position to her far left, but he went ignored.

'Should I use my metal vessels?' asked Sinbad to her right and Judi nodded, feeling foolish and guilty, but refusing to show it. No use trying to restrain the only thing that could probably kill the thing.

When the white snake emerged again, it did it right in front of them, almost devouring Sinbad as he jumped back clumsily and fell to his knees due to the movement of the sand. Judi charged at the creature in order to buy Sinbad some time to recover, but she was also thrown away by the beast's tail.

It was enough, though. The sounds of thunder and the blue flashes of an enormous amount of electricity being absorbed by the tall and proud dungeon conqueror brought the snake's attention back to the teenager. It advanced rapidly through the constant movement of the sea of sand with its mouth wide open and its eyes fixed on its prey.

'Balalark Saiqa!' all the electricity that the sword had stored was released and completely swallowed the white dragon looking snake, vaporizing it with a loud rumble and a screech from said creature.

As soon as the thing was gone, Sinbad fell to his knees again, exhausted from the use of such a powerful attack.

Ja'far ran to his side to inspect him for any injuries. His heart calmed down when he found nothing more than scrapes and bruises from falling on the sand before and he helped Sinbad to his feet, supporting him in the unstable ground. A stone throne appeared close by from the depths and was swallowed back again, thankfully harmless. Judi approached as well, clutching her arm while holding her scimitars and limping slightly. She looked at them for a brief moment before a wave of relief overtook her and she smiled. Her reaction was cut short by a groan though. Captain Rigel was standing up on shaky legs, barely holding himself up on top of a sand wave. He looked at the rest of the party and slowly made his way to them. When he reached them though his angry expression turned to one of utter confusion as the three youngsters were staring at him wide eyed…

No, not at him…

He turned his head slowly, almost comically, and was met by the deafening screech of a white dragon looking snake with a bleeding eye socket.

Without even thinking about it, both Judi and Ja'far put away their weapons and hoisted Sinbad by his armpits and started running. The snake followed after them with a screech, quickly catching up to them, but completely missing them when it bit down due to its partial blindness.

'Why didn't you kill the fucking thing?!' Captain Rigel demanded as he ran next to them. He was ignored in their escape. They all jumped down a sand wave when the snake tried to bite them once again, but it got itself a mouthful of sand instead.

'You are but a bunch of useless thugs, you miserable mongrels! I should just leave you here to die!'

'Shut the fuck up and keep running if you don't wanna die old man!' Ja'far shouted at the Captain as they managed to dodge the snake once more by diving under a falling white pillar. The monster was temporarily stunned by the blow of hitting the obstacle head on and was swallowed by the sand, giving the group a head start.

They ran for all they had, Sinbad stumbling a couple of times but remaining on his feet thanks to Judi and Ja'far. Captain Rigel was running not too far ahead of them, probably to not be separated from the "guides".

'There's a door!' exclaimed Judi in between pants.

The whole group accelerated their pace heading straight for the door. It was a gigantic set of double doors, framed by a very wide arch made of gold, silver and carved with gems. It was standing upon a square of massive black marble that was not swallowed nor did it sway on the sand waves.

Sinbad stumbled a couple more times before the whole group came crashing down onto the sand just a few yards away from the gate. The white snake had once again returned and had hit their tall sand wave with its tail right when they were at the top, sending the party rolling in all given directions; Captain Rigel being the only one that actually made it to the gate with a painful thud. He immediately tried to push on the doors, but they wouldn't move an inch.

Meanwhile the white snake had cornered Ja'far between its tail and its head and was getting ready to eat him. Ja'far escaped twice, using the sand waves to his advantage and trying to hide in the monster's blind side, but the giant snake would have none of it. It tightened the circle around the white haired ex-assassin considerably. He heard Sinbad call his name and smirked. The purple haired teenager saw it and relaxed, knowing that the smaller man was stronger than he looked and he seemed to have a plan. When the snake charged at him and bit, Ja'far jumped out of the way. The beast broke in a fit of screeches, rubbing its bitten tail all over itself to ease the pain, smearing blood in its wake, including Ja'far himself.

Ja'far didn't waste time to help Judi and Sinbad during the last metres between them and the gate. Their only focus was to get to safety before the very persistent monster would catch up to them again. A particularly tall sand wave lifted them to the height of the doors and they ran with it as if "surfing" at its top. There was a screech from the pale snake somewhere behind them and they knew they were still being chased by the stubborn creature.

Judi looked at Ja'far as they approached the gates and their wave started shrinking. In fear of what might be uncovered when the sand reached ground level, Ja'far and Judi pushed Sinbad down and he rolled to the marble platform. Ja'far jumped next and Judi followed him a second latter, but she didn't roll too far down without interruptions.

The snake had done a last minute attempt to get them while they rolled, charging for all it had and it managed to bite her foot by diving horizontally, through their vertical sand wave, pulling her down as it tried to take her underground. Judi just barely grabbed onto the marble surface of the platform and the snake finally let go of her foot, completely giving up on its pray as it sunk and disappeared leaving the white haired girl to try and pry herself from the sand.

'Judi!' called Sinbad and both boys turned to the struggling girl.

Ja'far and Sinbad rushed to help her, gabbing her forearms and pulling, but the sand was stronger and, with each pull outwards, Judi would sink double the distance.

'I'm sorry…' she heaved with regretful and scared tears in her eyes as her grip on both boy's arms loosened.

'No! Don't you dare!' Sinbad yelled as he gripped her arms almost painfully harder.

Ja'far clicked his tongue and pulled out Balalark Sei, wrapping it all around the struggling girl.

'We are not letting you go!' the ex-assassin screamed when he pulled, the ropes burning and cutting his already scarred skin. He was sick and tired of the negative influence everyone seemed to have on Judi. I _want to save her!_

The girl continued to apologize and begged them to let her go instead of getting them all killed as her body sunk into the sand.

'Let me go, for Solomon's sake! That's an order!'

Without thinking Ja'far reached down to her face and crushed their lips together in a furious, violent, sand and blood filled kiss, with his eyes scrunched shut and his heart beat in his mouth, and Sinbad was still sitting on the marble surface pulling with all his might on Judi's arms, screaming and groaning.

'You're the only one I remember…' Ja'far confessed in a small desperate voice as he pulled at the ropes. 'All the others are blurs of scars and weapons, but I never forgot you…'

'FIGHT!' Sinbad shouted, his strength leaving him and his sweaty skin slipping against Judi's.

With a war cry and much swearing the two boys managed to pull Judi out of the sea of sand, all three landing on the marble platform in a panting heap of laughter, sweat, tears and blood. Ja'far didn't even bother releasing Judi from his crimson ropes choosing to hug her and kiss every inch of her face that he could get his lips on while she cried and laughed and gripped Sinbad's arms with the little strength she still had left. The teen was laughing out loud in relief at having once again his arms full of love and joy and his most precious people were safe and sound with him.

Then he screamed in pain.

Judi and Ja'far were startled by Sinbad's cry and quickly found the cause of it to be Captain Rigel's blade, piercing the teenager's shoulder and twisting painfully inside.

'What the fuck do you think you're doing, dear Judi?' the man asked, anger and bloodlust evident on his face.

The four of them remained quiet for a couple of seconds until Judi screamed and tackled the Captain to the floor, her own expression of anger twisting her face, her frigid glare directed to the man in a way she'd never looked at anyone before.

Both pirates landed a few steps away from the Sindrian pair, Judi straddling the big Captain with a scimitar on his neck.

'Give me a reason, I beg you!' she hissed with all the malice she could conjure upon herself, sucking in air through her teeth, a pestilent noxious grin plastered on her face. 'Then again, you've given me plenty already.'

Captain Rigel's belly laugh only served to anger the white haired pirate even more. He grabbed her wrist and pushed it away. 'You would never dare, my dear Judi. You belong to me.'

Judi snarled and yanked her arm free of the man's grasp with her scimitar in hand and successfully amputated his right hand. She didn't even let him cry out for his lost limb as she brought her blade back to his neck.

'You sick bastard! You're still deluded if you think you can order me around!'

The man didn't even answer as he panted and groaned in pain, so with a last growl from the back of her throat, Judi stabbed her scimitar in Rigel's throat, piercing it from the front to the back, taking bone and cartilage with it and spurting great amounts of blood that landed on Judi's own neck and clothing. Rigel's eyes widened. His body spasmed under Judi and he struggled to breathe while he weakly clawed at her clothes, looking at her maniac grin; her murderous laughter was the only sound that reached his ears through the rush of his blood until he stilled, lifeless, his panicked eyes forever stuck watching her covered in a mix of monster blood and his blood. And all Judi wanted was for him to revive just so that she could kill him again and again. Since that wasn't possible, she screamed once, twice, three times at the top of her lungs. Then she also stilled, recovering her breath, leaning on the scimitar.

The seconds ticked away and Judi didn't move out of her position. Sinbad stood up and approached her hesitantly, calling her name softly. Judi looked at him with a blush.

'I can't move…'

'Eh?'

'My foot and my arm won't move…' she said with a small voice and blushed a shade darker when the teenager broke down laughing. Ja'far covered his mouth with his arm to hide his smile.

Sinbad kissed her softly on the lips, surprising her. She quickly recovered from her shock and hesitantly and clumsily kissed him back, pouring all the feelings of love into that caress, begging for forgiveness for her actions…

Ja'far watched them, amused and surprised that he didn't fell any kind of jealously at the fact that his Sinbad was now their Sinbad. He only felt an incredible giddiness at all the prospects this new relationship would bring them. He stood up, uselessly dusted his trousers and approached them. He extended a hand to Judi and hoisted her onto his back.

The trio turned to the gate, Judi on Ja'far's back and Sinbad by their side. They looked at each other and spoke the incantation for the gate to open at the same time. Out of every adventure he'd had, Sinbad could swear this was one of the most disastrous yet gratifying one. He'd made it out alive, managed to protect his most precious Ja'far- who he couldn't wait to shower with affection and love as soon as they were safe- and got himself one more friend- no another lover.

He was still confused on how to approach that last one. He sincerely hoped they could all make this work out since did like Judi a lot. However he wasn't going to do anything to lose Ja'far, no matter the amount of guilt it would cause him to let Judi go should things turn sour.

But those were thoughts for another time and another place.

The trio passed the gate and Judi was amazed at the amount of treasures there were in one single room. The Sindrian merchants soon realised that this girl had a slight (huge) passion for gold and gems. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as much or more that all the gold silver and stones in front of them. And she kept asking Ja'far to take her to this or that pile of treasure to inspect the items.

Once again, the gold seemed to gravitate towards her body, wrapping itself around her neck and arms in the form of necklaces, bracelets and a heavy crown that sat askew atop of her head for being too big.

'Now that we're here, shall we try and find the djinn?' asked Sinbad while looking around the room for the object that could be the vessel of the powerful being.

Ja'far found it first. It couldn't have been more obvious, really. The vase with the eight pointed star inside a circle was perched on top of a black marble pedestal with eight rays of light shining upon it from nowhere in particular.

'I don't even want to know what kind of djinn this one's gonna be…' Ja'far deadpanned with that squinty eyed and pursed lipped look of his. The memory of Sinbad's other djinn was still fresh in his head.

Sinbad laughed. 'It wasn't that bad!'

Ja'far turned his head towards his master, stiffly and shooting him the most vacant look he could muster.

Sinbad laughed again and grabbed the top of the vase.

As soon as Sinbad's hand made contact with the cold metal vase the lights shining on it disappeared as if they were being swallowed by it and the djinn vessel burst into flames. Cold flames the purple haired teenager realised when his bloody, sweaty hand failed to drop the vase immediately. A few seconds after, a blue giant mass of flesh squeezed its way out of the very narrow container and cast a humungous shadow upon the humans.

When he was finally released the djinn let out the biggest yawn known to mankind and when he finally spotted them he screeched and shrunk to the size of a normal man, barely taller than Sinbad Ja'far let Judi down while still supporting her with her arm around his neck.

In his human form, the Djinn was a very handsome, albeit blue, man, with the attire of a soldier and a ducal crown on his head.

Sinbad bowed to the djinn in respect receiving but a curt nod. Ja'far extended his unoccupied hand at him with a smile. The djinn didn't take it, choosing to bow and smile a sultry smile directed Judi instead.

'Well done, humans! My name is Saleos. I am the Duke of this 19th dungeon and I will only choose a queen. I am pleased to meet you.'

'Oi!' Ja'far growled under his breath, glaring at the flirtatious djinn and threatening him by wielding Balalark Sei, ready to attack.

Sinbad laughed with his hand on his hip and his head thrown back. 'It's okay, Ja'far. Besides, Judi is fit to be a queen, after all.'

Ja'far and Judi looked at him with wide unbelieving eyes. Ja'far had witnessed Sinbad tricking even his friends in order to gain the power of djinns before and was giving it away to Judi?

'Saleos has already spoken his mind.' Sinbad clarified as if reading the boy's mind.

'I will still test you, though.' Saleos announced dramatically. The trio looked at him expectantly and the Djinn smirked. He snapped his fingers and…

…nothing happened.

The three humans looked around to make sure they did not miss a small detail, but then turned their confused expressions towards the blue entity.

Saleos cleared his throat with a blush, and tried again.

All of a sudden and out of nowhere, two massive hourglasses appeared, trapping both Ja'far and Sinbad inside. The sand fell on top of them immediately. Both males started hitting the glass surface and shouting at the Djinn to let them go. She called their names but didn't move from her spot in the middle of them, unsure of what to do.

'You, lovely lady, have got exactly five minutes to save one of them. Men love women and women love men and families are formed. As my queen, you will have to choose a king.' Saleos explained.

'I don't want to choose!' Judi answered immediately, glaring daggers at the djinn.

'Then you die instead of them.' Saleos said, producing a chalice full with a red liquid that resembled wine and smelled like wine. 'Drink this and you die instead of them. Stab an hourglass and you can save one of them. You can save your new master, Sinbad, who has two djinn under his command. Or you can save the ex-assassin who shared the same life as you and can relate to your pains better than anyone.' Then he disappeared and teleported to the top of a mountain of gold. 'Choose.'

'Judi, look around you, there must be another way!' Sinbad shouted, the sand already covering his feet. He pulled his sword nonetheless, being ninety nine per cent sure this wasn't going to work at all and equipped.

'Balalark Saiqa!'

Sinbad's shoulders slumped when nothing happened and Saleos laughed.

'Not this time, Sinbad. I have asked the other djinn not to interfere with my final test and they have all graciously acquiesced my request.' Saleos bowed in his direction, but it was clear he was bowing at the djinn bound by contract to Sinbad.

'Djinn are tricky, think of an alternative, Judi.' Ja'far shouted, hitting the glass with a fist and looking all around his hourglass. 'The tops are closed, no air is coming in so even if we stand on the sand as it pours and manage not to drown in it, we'll suffocate for lack of oxygen.' He muttered.

Sinbad was doing similar calculations in his head, punching and kicking the glass to see if it would break, but he was unsuccessful.

Meanwhile Judi put the chalice down and limped her way around the time tellers, circling them, looking around them from the outside. When she found nothing she started looking at the room, but besides piles upon piles of treasure she found nothing.

'There is no hidden mechanism to these things!' she shouted in frustration.

'Try to find something I the treasure!' Sinbad suggested as he continuously lifted his feet off the sand to stand on top of it, but sinking rapidly in the smooth, fine grains.

Judi limped her was to the nearest pile of gold and stated with sharp weapons made of gold and silver, running from a distance and trying to stab the closest sandglass, but the tools she chose left no indentation or crack or even a single sign they had even touched the glass. She dropped to the floor in pain, massaging her injured foot for a moment, before standing up again, hissing, but ignoring the sharp pain it caused her.

Perched atop his pile of gold, Saleos yawned a big sigh and rested his cheek on his hand, tediously watching the human's pointless struggle.

When she ran out of weapons, Judi started picking up heavy objects and throwing them at the devices with loud cries at the effort.

'That one, there!' Ja'far shouted, pointing at a large boulder, as tall as Judi's knees, that was sitting on her left.

Judi picked it up with great effort and the loudest scream she ever released. Pain flared impossibly hot, scorching every nerve in her arm and her foot. She swayed under the weight a little, but soon steadied herself. Sinbad was honestly surprised at her strength. Their eyes widened when the rock collided with Ja'far's hourglass and it caused a small crack on the surface. Their hearts soared in hope and they exhaled small laughs of happiness, but as Judi turned to pick up the rock again the crack on the glass disappeared as if time was being rewound.

'No, no, no, NO!' Ja'far cried, patting the now smooth surface as if to stop it. Then he punched it in frustration.

Saleos stood from his treasure pile with a deep unsatisfied frown. 'I explained the rules of this test quite clearly, did I not?' the djinn loomed over Judi in an intimidating stance, but the girl stood as tall as she could, with dirt and blood and sweat all over her clothes and skin. Saleos clicked his tongue in annoyance before snapping his fingers again.

Sinbad and Ja'far released equal surprised exclamations when the sand started falling heavier and faster on them, sinking them rapidly to their knees before they could lift their legs and stand atop it. The struggle exhausted them, but hey were not going to give up.

'You have one minute left for your insolence…choose or they both die.' Saleos hissed, irate.

By the time Judi limped back to the middle of the hourglasses, Sinbad and Ja'far were crouching on top of the sand, with their heads against the narrow neck in the middle, the last of the sand closing in on them.

'Judi, save Sin! Save him!' Ja'far shouted. 'He'll build a country and rid the world of conflict one day. Choose him!'

'No!' yelled Judi, now pep talking herself mentally for the only viable solution.

'Shut up Ja'far. Judi let's think harder, I'm sure there is a trick!' Sinbad refuted, but even he couldn't ignore the sand that was covering his neck.

'You shut up, idiot! I'm not going to let you die before your absurd dream comes true! You will live!' Ja'far screamed, crying and blinking out sand from his eyes. He was scared of dying, sure, but he was even more scared to knowing Sinbad wouldn't live on. He could not allow that to happen.

Judi looked at both males with her heart on her throat and wet eyes. She knew what she had to do. She couldn't choose one of the two…if anything she should be the one to die here. She betrayed them, she was not one of them. She was already ready to die for them, they were all she had left.

'You're all I have left…' She whispered, clutching her top in her fist to try and alleviate a bit the violent beating of her heart. She had never felt like this. Like her life was of lesser value than someone else's. She'd never been so flooded by whatever feelings these were that she was physically chocking on them. 'Saleos.' She called him but not looking at him. 'I love them both too much. I can't choose after all. Sinbad.' Judi looked at the purple haired teenager. 'I Love you. I am glad I got to meet you. And I really enjoyed your book!' She giggled and smiled up at him, sincere. A true smile.

'Judi, no!' Sinbad shouted, deducing what her choice had been. 'Don't! There has to be another way!'

But the sand was already up to his chin.

'Ja'far.' Judi called, now turning towards the white haired ex-assassin.

'Stop! Sinbad's right, there has to be a different solution!'

'I love you too. I wish I had reached out my hand to you when we met outside the "growing up" rooms.'

'Stop, Judi! Stop!'

'Don't do this! Please!'

Judi ignored the screams from her loved ones smiling up at them one last time before picking up the chalice from the floor, breathing out a last "I'm glad I met you" and drinking the crimson liquid.

The next second, the hourglasses disappeared and Ja'far and Sinbad fell on the hard floor with twin thuds and groans of pain. They didn't wait to know what happened. Judi found herself tackled to the floor by a pair of crying boys who kissed any place they could find and Judi couldn't have hugged them tighter even if her arm wasn't hurting.

Next Judi coughed up blood.

'No…' hissed Sinbad, holding the girl up to his chest, gently cradling her.

Next to him, Ja'far picked up the chalice dipped his finger in and tasted the liquid, dropping the golden container to the floor with a frown and an anxious heart beating loudly against his ribs.

'Sin…' he called and directed a meaningful look at the teenager.

Sinbad understood. He hid the shaking of his hands under Judi's back.

'That was so mooooving! You chose to scarify yourself to save the men you love! ' Saleos sobbed in a silly voice, holding a finger under his eye to catch a crystal tear. Then he smirked evilly, dropping the act and producing a golden bow and an arrow made of fire out of thin air. 'I'll put you out of your misery.'

The djinn set the arrow on the bow and pointed it at Judi.

Sinbad glared at Saleos and covered Judi with his body. 'You'll have to pass through me.'

'That won't be a problem.' Saleos taunted him.

Ja'far stood up and positioned himself in front of the pair with his arms outstretched, looking at the djinn with determination, but not saying anything. His actions spoked all there was to say.

'This arrow can pierce anything I want it to! _Anything!_ Do you really want her sacrifice to be for naught? She'll die anyway!' Saleos goaded them, but his smirk faltered when Ja'far plastered a satisfied sneer on his young features.

'No she won't.' Ja'far said.

Sinbad stood up then, holding Judi, helping her straighten out. The girl spat some blood out and moaned a loud "Bloody ouch!"

'Poison doesn't affect us.' Ja'far informed, lowering his arms and standing on Judi's other side.

'You would stand against even me?' Saleos asked, outraged. The glares on three very angry faces assured him that they would. So Saleos smiled widely. He dropped the bow and the arrow and they disintegrated before hitting the floor. The blue djinn bowed. 'I am pleased that you will become my Queen!' He announced. 'Women are truly amazing! I will not choose anyone but a woman to be my king candidate!'

Without further ado, the djinn chose Judi's ankle bangle as his Metal Vessel, his voice still echoing through the Dungeon: 'I am Saleos, wielder of the emotions of love and affection! I expect great things from you, my Queen!'

The trio didn't have time to recover from their shock though since another pillar of light shone from right under them. Ja'far and Judi found themselves together but with a distinct lack of Sinbad. They looked at each other conveying their wordless worries about their master as the spherical form of the world below them turned and shrank as they were being transported to the outside.

The pair sat down close together with equal groans of pain at their wounds and sore bodies.

'I hope we don't come back too long after Sinbad…or before…or too far…' Ja'far prayed thinking about all the scenarios that could happen with them being separated. 'He'll be fine for sure, but it'll be a bother to find him if we're separated by distance and time.'

Judi smiled a bittersweet smile. 'I'm sorry I was so harsh on you…I wanted to protect you…'

'And you did. We are grateful for your sacrifice, Judi…' Ja'far thanked squeezing her hand. Then he corrected himself. 'Sacrifices. That poison should have killed you.' He looked at Judi with earnest eyes. 'Would you train me for the poisons you have learned outside the Organization?'

Judi looked at him wide eyes, assessing him for a moment. 'Are you sure?'

Ja'far just nodded. They didn't need to say anything else. Judi started making plans in her head about which concoctions to start with and what ingredients she would need. There was an assortment of them she would have to look hard for, but if it helped her protect this person whose hand she now held and her future king, who saved them both in ways far vaster than physical, she would get her hands on every single ingredient and recipe she could. Both her and Ja'far would whatever it took to protect Sinbad.

They soon reached the end of the pillar of light…to the edge of yet another desert.

'You have to be kidding!' Judi complained, dropping on the sand with an "ouch!" at having forgotten her broken foot. She was hit on the head by Ja'far, expelling another "ouch!", before her lips were thoroughly ravaged by the white haired boy.

'Ahem!' a familiar voice cleared his throat behind them.

Both ex-assassins called Sinbad's name as Ja'far tackled him to the ground in a bear hug.

'How long have you waited for us?' Ja'far asked.

'Only a few minutes.' Sinbad informed them. 'I was thinking that maybe I should look for a place to rest when you appeared.'

It took them all a while to calm down from the adrenaline still coursing through their veins. When they did the sun was setting in the horizon, clearly indicating the west. Ja'far stood up to inspect their surroundings and find out where they were. There were trees close by and Ja'far said he'd go take a look around for food.

Sinbad and Judi waited nearly half an hour, laying on the cooling sand and making small conversation when Ja'far came back. He returned empty handed with a large smile on his face confusing Sinbad and Judi.

'We're in Balbadd!' he proclaimed.

'What? Can we really be this lucky?' Sinbad exclaimed surprised.

Judi tried to stand up again but failed and landed again on her injury.

'Let's get you treated before you break something else.' Sinbad said as he picked her up.

It took them a whole hour of walking through the vegetation until they made it to the city, but the pain of walking paid off when they got home to their family.

There was a collective fuss at their bloodied and dirty state, but they were soon reassured that the blood wasn't theirs and they weren't injured.

'Our new guest is, though.' Sinbad informed, motioning with his head at the girl currently riding piggyback style on his back.

'I will go find a doctor.' Mistoras offered straight away and left on his self-appointed mission while Rurumu approached Sinbad and Judi.

'Hello, my name is Rurumu. I am from Imuchakk and I work for Sinbad here at Sindria Trading Company. Nice to meet you.' Rurumu introduced herself with a mother's voice, gentle and caring. And she indeed cared.

'Rurumu is like a mother to everyone.' Ja'far told Judi and Sinbad felt her nod her head.

'I'm Judi.'

Sinbad smiled at the woman's gentle smile knowing that in a very near future Judi was going to go through etiquette training and basic education, just like he and Ja'far had. He looked at Ja'far to know how Judi had reacted and received a small smile from the white haired ex-assassin.

'I am going to pick you up, Judi, so that we can get you cleaned up to wait for the doctor, alright?'

Rurumu didn't wait for her answer and took Judi from Sinbad's back and into her strong arms. Judi let out an expletive in her surprise but grabbed onto the giant woman anyway. Her expression was one of worry and distrust and as she looked at Sinbad and Ja'far they nodded to let her know it was fine.

'You two should also to go take a bath and get checked by the medic.' Rurumu told Sinbad and Ja'far before she disappeared through the door that led to the private quarters at Sindria Trading Company.

'Aye, ma'am!' Ja'far and Sinbad responded promptly, knowing that it wasn't a suggestion.

'You know, Sin. Judi's trying really hard right now.' Ja'far said as they walked to the baths. 'It's not easy to trust a person you just met like that, especially for people like us, but I think she's trying to trust Rurumu for you…and me.'

Sinbad noticed the slight hesitation in Ja'far's speech as he referred to himself, knowing Judi wasn't the only one who was trying hard. Everyone at Sindria Trading Company was trying hard to overcome their circumstances and be truly happy and Sinbad wanted nothing more than to be able to provide that for them.

When they were clean and properly dressed, Sinbad and Ja'far found out where Rurumu had taken Judi and headed there. They knocked on the door and waited patiently for the confirmation to enter.

Judi was sitting in the very centre of a queen sized bed with clean white cotton sheets, wearing clean cotton clothes and leaning her back against the headboard. She looked almost shiny now that she was clean, her was hair almost the same pure white as the bedding, loose from its usual braid, spread around her instead and a stark contrast to her sun kissed skin.

The pair of boys noticed the absence of Rurumu.

'Miss Rurumu said she'd get me more pillows…I don't need them though…' Judi said immediately as they entered, almost as if she read their minds.

'How are you doing Judi?' Sinbad asked, pulling a chair and sitting next to the girl.

'There really is no need for all this. I have suffered worse wounds and slept in worse places. This room looks very lavish so you should probably keep it for important guests. I am happy to sleep somewhere else…'

Ja'far smiled, knowing exactly what she was talking about. He walked up to her and sat down on the edge of the bed to be able to card his fingers through her hair. He combed the white strands gently out of her face and successfully stopped her nervous tirade.

'That's just the kind of people Sindria Trading Company are. We care for each other. There is no need to go through anything on your own again.'

Judi's heart rate accelerated. It didn't matter how many times she was told these things, her body still reacted like it was the first time. She nodded her understandment and leaned on Ja'far's touch just as Hinahoho entered the room with the doctor. Ja'far saw surprise cross the large man's face as he looked from him to Judi, then back at him and to Sinbad's smiling face. Understandment and fondness replaced his surprise while the doctor introduced himself to them.

Judi's foot and arms weren't broken after all, according to the medic, but she'd need to rest for a couple of days before she was able to stand. In Judi language that meant 48 hours and not a second longer.

After the doctor left, escorted by Hinahoho, Sinbad turned to Ja'far and Judi to discuss what she intended to do next. Sinbad explained his ambitious dream of building a country and ultimately stopping world conflict one way or another. Since Judi had confessed to reading Sinbad's book, the dungeon capturer had a whole world less trouble telling his story. He told her about Maader, also filling Ja'far in some of the details of his imprisonment, now that the trauma wasn't so debilitating.

Judi was silent for a total of sixty seconds. She looked straight at Sinbad's eyes with determination in that moment, and answered.

'Not taking into consideration the fact that I am in love with you and you have to take responsibility for making me feel this way, I also don't have anywhere to go or anything else to do. I don't particularly care about world conflict. Right now, my world is all about Sinbad and Ja'far and it's rapidly expanding.'

'Aren't you a cocky one?' Sinbad commented, taking her words about responsibility to heart.

'We knew that, though, didn't we?' Ja'far remarked almost solemnly, agreeing with Judi that Sinbad was to blame for her having developed feelings for them. _Thank Solomon she did…_

Judi smiled the brightest smile anyone had seen on her face. 'I like the direction of this new path you've shown me and I intend to follow it to the end. I owe you my freedom and my life. I will gladly devote myself to you, Lord Sinbad. My life and my death shall be at your disposal.'

The mention of her death as such an oath made Sinbad feel as humble as he did when the Maader incident had been solved by his family and he realised that he had in his hands the lives of many honourable people, people who followed him and his dream. People who he treasured more than anything.

A knock on the door and the consent from the occupants of the room announced the arrival of dinner, carried by Hinahoho.

'Waaa! I am so hungry I could eat one of those snakes from the dungeon!' Judi exclaimed at the sight of the very delicious soup.

'You conquered a dungeon?' asked Mistoras as he entered the room, pulling Drakon behind himself. The lizard man was nervously covering his face from Judi, trying not to scare her.

'Judi did. Judi, this is Mistoras, from Sasan.' Sinbad introduced, motioning at the red haired knight who proceeded to blush and waved at her, not knowing what to do. 'And this is Drakon.' Sinbad turned to Drakon. 'You don't have to cover your face, Judi's part of our family, now.'

Drakon was hesitant to oblige, but he figured that if Sinbad was serious, then Judi would have to see him eventually. He still tensed up as the cloth slid easily from his face though, waiting for the outburst.

Judi was shocked, just as everyone who saw Drakon nowadays was, but she didn't scream. She gaped at him, quite rudely, and pointed, but no words came out at first. When they did, they shocked Drakon and everyone else in the room.

'That is so cool, man!' She exclaimed, leaning forward with a marvelled face and a big smile, like the child she was, curious and fascinated.

Drakon couldn't decide if he preferred that she'd screamed over the sparkly adoration that reached him in waves and bounced little stars off his scales.

After laughing at Judi's reaction, Hinahoho turned a knowing smirk towards Sinbad. 'Are you sure you want to keep adopting children, Sinbad?'

The purple haired teenager pouted at him with a blush, but refrained from digging his own grave any deeper.

'This food is delicious, thank you!' Judi said around a spoonful of soup earning herself a round of laughter.

'Another disciple for Rurumu.' Sinbad commented with a shiver at the Spartan education of the gentle, but strict Imuchakk. Next to him Ja'far cleared his throat signalling with his head at Masrur, who followed Drakon into the room. 'This is Masrur.' Sinbad introduced.

Judi waved at him with a grin.

Masrur nodded at her and sat down on a chair next to Sinbad, his small legs not reaching the floor.

'Hum…hi everyone. I'm Judi. I am…was…an assassin, then a pirate…I hope I can become one of you…?' Judi introduced herself unsure and looking at the walls with a blush. She put the now empty bowl of soup on the side table, breathed in deeply and then bowed as much as she could while sitting with her legs extended in front of her, which was quite a lot, seeing as her forehead touched her knees. 'I AM REALLY SORRY FOR SABOTAGING YOUR TRIP AND KIDNAPPING LORD SINBAD AND LORD JA'FAR! THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME JOIN YOU AND FOR BEING NICE TO ME!'

Everyone looked at each other in surprise and shock at the outburst, figuring that she needed to properly apologize to get closure for a new beginning. None of them thought her apology was warranted though, even those who didn't know everything that happened and they all silently agreed to let her know.

Masrur took on the initiative. He stood up from his chair and climbed on the bed, surprising everyone even more. Judi looked up at him just as he extended his hand and patted her head.

'I defeated Sinbad and that made him a slave. But Hinahoho pated my head too and told me that it's ok, because we are all from different backgrounds.'

Judi's eyes widened and she smiled, hugging the small Fanalis who looked very uneasy.

'Wait, you said you were an assassin?' Mistoras asked. 'Just like you, Ja'far!'

Ja'far cleared his throat and added: 'We met each other briefly in the past.'

As if on cue, Vitel and Mahad knocked on the door frame to announce their presence. Vitel took one look at Judi before his eyes widened and he pointed at her.

'Ah! You're alive!'

'And you're here too!' Judi exclaimed in response. 'Last I saw you I was choking on that _juice_ you gave me!'

Vitel looked embarrassed for a few moments, scratching the back of his neck and clearing his throat. 'Orders…' he said. The two of them shared a meaningful look for a split seconds that was easily caught and understood by both Ja'far and Mahad: _There is no leaving the Organization, but…_

The fact that their friends were not as surprised as Ja'far, Vitel, Mahad and Judi would have thought they'd be at the fact they knew each other from the Organization alleviated their concern at making them all worry about the Organization, but they didn't mention it. Sinbad noticed this though and he realised that none of his friends that came from the Organization mentioned much about it. He deduced they just didn't want to talk about their trauma. Judging by their stories, especially the past Ja'far involuntarily showed him and told him, respectively, that was a pretty valid excuse.

'Do you have any idea about what happened to the pirate ship?' Sinbad asked just remembering they had left it right outside the dungeon.

The trio looked at each other when Hinahoho shrugged his shoulders and Drakon shook his head negatively. They had a feeling this was not the last they saw of that accursed ship and its crew.

Judi was up and about in less than two days and Ja'far and Sinbad were all too happy to spend hours of their day sparring in a three way match, similar to those they'd fought on board the brigantine before Rurumu started educating Judi on the ways of a merchant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I delved deep into research of the Demons of the Ars Goetia, one of the five books of the Lesser Key of Solomon for the name and overall appearance of Saleos (and all the other djinn). Kept the list for future reference in case I want to write another dungeon excursion.


	7. Maharajan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When everything is said and done and all is fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all of you you don't like underage sex I have marked it with a LINE BREAKER at the beginning and at the end so you can skip it.
> 
> To fourangers, if you're still reading this, I'm sorry I didn't do that time skip after all. I think I want to keep the mood of the story to what it is. I did mark it, though, so it should be okay to skip the sex scene.
> 
> This is the last chapter. I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Thank you very much to the very few of you who actually read this fanfiction. My sincere gratitude is yours!  
> Also to my friend, for your continuous support and kind words! Thank you!

Life seemed to fall back into place quickly and Ja'far had never been so happy to help the administrative side of the Company. Judi had become an adept of written documents and she was quickly learning to record the details of accounting, managerial decisions, and activities related to the Company, such as minutes of meetings, copies of Company orders and contracts, and filings of reports and copies of ship's logs.

That night Ja'far had been doing some work on his own when a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around his waist and torso. He smiled when Sinbad rested his chin on his shoulder and kissed his cheek. The ex-assassin turned his head to the side to kiss Sinbad fully on the lips, but Sinbad managed to divert his head and the affectionate gesture fell on the skin of his cheek. They stayed like that for a bit before Ja'far spoke.

'What are you thinking about?'

'About you and Judi.' He confessed, always the shameless heartthrob. But this time Ja'far sensed there was more to this conversation. He decided to press for it.

'As a matter of fact I am wondering…how are things going to be now? Between the three of us, I mean. I am scared that we're not going to work out.'

'I have asked myself that question.' The teenager told him. 'I got to the conclusion that if it really doesn't work out, then it didn't, however I am not letting you go, no matter what happens.' Sinbad's hold tightened around him at his words.

'Not even to keep a King candidate at your disposal?' asked Ja'far with a fearful and serious expression.

'If that happens, I'll find a way to keep her alliance…somehow.' Sinbad answered truthfully. 'Nothing will harm Sindria Trading Company. I swear.'

There was a pregnant silence between the two and Ja'far could feel Sinbad's uneasiness seeping from his very pores. He didn't have to say anything though. Sinbad was aware he knew something was worrying him.

Sinbad moved to the front of Ja'far's chair and bent down with the younger one's hands in his. The look on his face was a calm deceitful cover for fear and pain that Ja'far would scold Sinbad for daring to put up in front of him in due time. He was so sure Sinbad's mind was cooking up the most unnecessary drama about something or other…Ja'far had three guesses and two of them were unlikely.

'You know I love you. I love you very much, Ja'far, but…I was thinking all this time about this…' Sinbad started. There was a slight tremor to his voice. Ja'far's eyebrow twitched. _Bingo!_ 'I didn't intend to make you my subordinate in order to do the same things your old masters did to you…'

'And you aren't.' Ja'far assured him with the gentlest voice he could muster while being ticked off. He was proud he succeeded. 'I have warm clothes, a bed, food and a family. I do not have to kill anyone anymore. I have been educated. I now work for the pleasure of achieving a dream, I can actually have a dream, now and most importantly, I no longer have to fear falling in love. What else could I want?'

'Your childhood.' Sinbad answered, exasperated. 'You don't get it, do you? Children do not fall in love! Children have innocent little crushes on the adults they admire! Before long you will realise your feelings towards me aren't what you thought they were, Ja'far, and everything we've done will become regretful memories mixed in with the faceless people you have been forced to deal with!'

Ja'far had enough. Did Sinbad really think so little of him? He grabbed Sinbad's hands roughly, pulled them above his head in a surprise move, forcing Sinbad's face mere inches away from his infinitely angry one before using his legs to push Sinbad and himself to the floor, where he straddled him and immobilized him, Balalark Sei at his throat.

Then he hissed at Sinbad's face in the iciest, most murderous tone in his entire arsenal of threatening tones. He purposefully adopted his assassin façade and looked down on Sinbad with the same maniac gaze he first looked at him with back in Imuchakk.

'I can think of over one thousand different ways to kill you without spilling your blood in under a second, Sinbad. I can hold my breath for longer than any human being. I can withstand freezing and boiling temperatures. I can stand pain that would have the bravest of men crying without even batting an eyelash. My body can repel and reject most poisons in the whole damned world. I can tie a fucking cherry stem into a fancy bow with my tongue and act out the darkest and wildest fantasies your brain might hold.'

Ja'far's heart was hammering his ribs painfully by the end of this tirade. He wasn't done yet, not by a wild shot, but he eased his hold on Sinbad, pulling Balalark Sei back. Instead he fisted Sinbad's robes as he looked down on him through his eyelashes.

'Tell me, Sin, is a child supposed to be able to do any of this? Did you really believe that I can go back to being an innocent little child I don't even remember being? Did you think that I could unlearn what has been tortured so permanently into my body? That I could forget what has been done to me or what I have done? Shit happens, Sinbad. We aren't kids anymore. Not me, nor you. So you better stop your damn fretting and man the fuck up! You don't get to tell me you fucking love me as if you're trying to say your fucking last words for this shit! I am in love with you! It is not admiration and I'm definitely is not mistaken and you just admitted to being in love with me unless you're lying to my fucking face!'

Ja'far was heaving and Sinbad was crying softly. Ja'far's hands let go of the fabric of Sinbad's clothes and rested open atop the teenager's chest, feeling the accelerated heartbeat and the silent sobs. He dropped the assassin act (was it an act?) and softened his features.

'We've been through the devil's basement, you and I, but isn't that more of a reason to allow ourselves to enjoy this?'

Sinbad sat up and whipped his tears away, looking at Ja'far with a small smile. No more words were need. Everything that needed to be said had been said. The rest was in their looks, in the hand that caressed the freckles on pale skin, in the slow, sleek dance of lips and tongues. Their feelings were printed on the lines of their faces, burned in their retinas, injected underneath their skin, absorbed into their bloodstream.

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Ja'far held out a hand towards Sinbad to help him onto his feet and he didn't let go until they were safely hidden away in Sinbad's bed chambers and their clothes were all but unwanted obstacles quickly discarded without thought or care.

Sinbad pulled Ja'far close to him, trying to mesh their bodies into one while their pelvises rubbed deliciously against each other. Sinbad brought his hand between their bodies to stroke their erections together as he slowly backed Ja'far to the bed.

Ja'far stopped Sinbad for a moment before he let himself get lost in the other. He looked at Sinbad through his eyelashes with a questioning glance.

His answer came in the form of a confident and lustful smile. Sinbad's worries, as just as they were, were appeased and erased and all that was left were Sinbad and Ja'far.

'I cannot wait to become one with you Ja'far.' Sinbad answered kissing the white haired boy's palm with his eyes fixed on his.

Ja'far blushed and slapped Sinbad's shoulder lightly in his embarrassment. The heavy doubtful atmosphere around them cleared and was now pure desire and happiness and love.

'You're way too cliché!'

Sinbad laughed and kissed him fully on the lips while his hands brushed the creamy skin underneath them.

Ja'far moaned wantonly as his body caught fire thanks to Sinbad's touches. The teenager proceeded to lick a trail down Ja'far's jaw and nip his way down Ja'far's throat to his nipple where he deposited a kiss before sucking it with his lips. His tongue played with the nub until it looked flushed and wet and he blew hot air on it before continuing his journey southwards while his hands caressed the insides of those delectably pale thighs. Ja'far moaned loudly at the caresses applied to his scars, Sinbad's fingers burning their sensitive lines until his thumbs reached as far as Ja'far's bottom where they parted the plump cheeks and exposed the puckered entrance.

Sinbad's mouth travelled southward to Ja'far's abdomen. The white haired boy squirmed and tangled his hands on dark hair begging the teenager between his legs to go down a bit more because he was burning and aching and he needed him now! Sinbad chuckled and decided to forget the blowjob and go straight for the prize. He returned his mouth to Ja'far's while his deft hands worked their magic. He reached for the bottle of oil he had conveniently kept under his pillow all this time and lubed his fingers.

'I thought you've never been with a man before…' Ja'far panted. 'How come you knew to keep oil close by…?

'I did some research…'

'You…ah!'

Ja'far's body arched off the bed with a loud moan of Sinbad's name when the first finger was inserted without a warning and started the relentless massage on the smaller man's prostate.

Ja'far didn't even have the mind to keep his voice down and Sinbad's kisses could only muffle him so much. Not that he was even trying since he was loving those sweet sounds. Sinbad's pleasure lied in watching Ja'far come undone by his ministrations. It was making his cock ache with need.

'Sin…no more…please…' the white haired ex-assassin begged between pants and moans. 'Take me. I beg you.'

Sinbad thought he could have orgasmed from those words alone so he didn't even ask. He wasn't going to last anyway. He could feel the heat coil inside him as he generously lubed his erection with oil and pre-cum and aligned it with Ja'far's entrance. With a last kiss to swollen lips Sinbad pushed forward at the same time Ja'far rocked his hips back meeting his lover's thrust halfway with a guttural scream.

'I'm not…gonna last…Ja'far…oh yes!'

The sound of his name spoken like that by his most precious person, pushed Ja'far over the edge of ecstasy and he came after only the second time Sinbad's member rubbed his previously stimulated prostate. Clamping his walls tight and pulling Sinbad to his orgasm not a second later.

Both men lay on the bed regaining their breath for a few seconds, completely spent and satisfied.

'I can't wait to add Judi to this.' Sinbad said as he reached and kissed Ja'far's lips.

The other male smiled and agreed. 'I will not know what to do…'

'I'll teach you. The both of you.'

'With your infinite experience on the matter, no doubt…' Ja'far deadpanned, his words dripping sarcasm.

There was a knock at the door just then and they heard Judi's voice calling from the outside, announcing that dinner was ready and that they should get dressed.

'You think she heard us?' Sinbad asked feigning innocence and receiving a light punch to the shoulder and a smile.

'Of course she did!'

Sinbad and Ja'far found no opportunity to actually talk to Judi about their new relationship at all and the girl seemed to be avoiding them since she heard them having sex, but then again, that could also be the uncanny timing the increase in sales in the Company had. Work at Sindria Trading Company seemed to increase exponentially for some time also, keeping Sinbad and Ja'far occupied to the point Sinbad was almost considering the remote possibility of feeling (just a tip of a bug's antenna's amount of) gratefulness towards his night terrors for bringing Ja'far with them. Not that they could indulge for more than a few make out sessions and a few touches since they both dreaded waking up tired for what expected them the next day.

When everything was said and done, Sinbad put on is explorer's clothes once again and reported to King Rashid, expecting to be scolded for his foolhardy detour, but finding instead a dear friend in the older man. He learned a lesson that day that was for sure. A lesson he would not easily forget for as long as he lived. He tucked the whole experience with Mariadel and the pirates away in his brain for reference on what _not_ to do again.

Seriously Ja'far's punches were no laughing stock! He should definitely avoid being punched again!

'Our next destination is the Dark Continent! Let's find our own Nation!'

* * *

After the ordeal with the pirates, climbing on board a ship again was a little more than nerve wrecking for Sinbad, Ja'far and Judi. The three of them tried to stay out in the sun on the main deck. On board the ship, the white haired girl had little where to go to avoid Sinbad and Ja'far, but the type of conversation they wanted to have was hardly one they were _ever_ going to approach in a place where unwanted ears could accidentally pick it up.

Thus, a night away from reaching Cathargo, in the northern region of the Dark Continent, Sinbad and Ja'far had reached levels of frustration they had not yet experienced in their young lives. For one, it was impossible to become more intimate than a few stolen kisses and smuggled touches when they thought their roommates were asleep and second, they were now 99.9% sure their chances at clearing the situation with Judi before their trip ended were running laps around their big fat zero.

That night, however, sensing something was amiss with the younger ones, Hinahoho decided to reorganize their sleeping arrangements, _conveniently_ leaving Sinbad and Ja'far alone in one room. Ja'far could have sworn the words "sexual tension" left Hinahoho's mouth, as silently as they were whispered.

Sinbad and Ja'far were halfway out of their clothes fully intent on changing to sleeping garments (at least Ja'far was) when they heard a knock on the door and Judi's voice asked if it was alright to come in.

She paused at the sight of Sinbad's bare chest, but entered anyway.

'I want to have sex with you too.' She blurted out blushing all the way to her ears and shaking like a leaf on the wind, willing herself not to run away.

'Are you assassins all romantically constipated or something?' Sinbad asked genuinely confused, but earning himself a kick from a blushing Ja'far.

'On second thought, I think I might be mistaken…' Judi said as her suddenly temporary courage dissipated and she turned to leave, but Ja'far grabbed her wrist gently and turned her around. He didn't know what to say to make her feel better since all assassins were indeed "romantically constipated" so he touched their lips together gently, sharing their breath with their eyes closed. The touch calmed them both down and Judi pursued more contact.

'I have never touched a girl like this before…' Ja'far confessed to Judi when they separated and Judi smiled.

'I have never not been used…' Judi confessed herself and pecked Ja'far's lips. 'But I think…that you can start by doing the same things you and Sinbad do…' She looked at Sinbad for permission and the dark haired teen nodded. He removed his trousers, becoming completely naked to try and instigate confidence in his younger lovers to do the same.

Judi had felt more than a little exposed when finally her clothes became but a heap on the floor, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. Her lovers wasted no time in exploring the tanned expanse of her skin with their hands, while they kissed her lips and her neck in intercalated intervals.

Judi wasn't idle. She took all her previously unwanted experience of the male anatomy and used it to bring pleasure to Sinbad and Ja'far, by playing with all the erogenous spots she could find in their tangled bodies.

With kiss swollen lips Sinbad instructed Ja'far to wait on the bed. Ja'far watched in fascination as Sinbad sat on the edge of the mattress stroking his erect penis while he tilted his head upward and kissed Judi on the lips. The girl looked at the naked ex-assassin through her eyelashes over the teenager's shoulder. Ja'far was sight of pure debauchery sitting on the bed with his parted legs spread in front, his hand unconsciously stroking his manhood and staring at them through half lidded eyes, blushing a healthy and aroused shade of pink. Judi averted her eyes looking at Sinbad's expectant gaze. Sinbad caressed her sides from her hips to her pert nipples, toying with them between his fingers and gently cupping her prepubescent mounds of flesh.

'These will grow beautifully soon.' He licked a nipple briefly before kissing her.

'I am sorry they aren't big yet. I will try my best to grow properly. In the meantime…' Judy said as she ravaged his mouth while her hands caressed the skin of his pectorals, flicking a nipple on their way down. Sinbad moaned and tucked his lip between his teeth. Judy pried it off with another kiss before her lips joined her hands, leaving wet patterns and love bites all the way down to the teenager's abdomen until she reached the happy trail of pubic hair and finally the teenager's very large cock, standing as proudly as the young man himself. She settled between his legs, looking up at Sinbad through her eyelashes and deposited a gentle kiss on the tip of the engorged member before engulfing it in her mouth.

Sinbad moaned loudly and tilted his head back at the sensation, his hand settling on the girl's head. He took notice of the delicious movements of Judi's tongue on him and proceeded to take Ja'far's penis into his own mouth following the example, but with her much smaller mouth Judi couldn't fit the whole thing. She resorted to stroke with her hands the part where neither her lips nor her tongue reached. Years of experience taught her she could take more of the man in if she flattened her tongue and stuck it out and nullified her gag reflex. Her previous life gave her techniques that she was all too eager to demonstrate now that she actually wanted to deliver mindboggling pleasure.

Sinbad released another moan around Ja'far's length making the young ex-assassin moan as well, his harms wrapped around Sinbad's head while the other male's fingers rubbed against his lover's anal entrance. Ja'far could feel his orgasm approaching dangerously fast as the sensations on his lower parts made his body sensitive and needy at the same time. He could not even say anything coherent anymore, nothing but whines and moans leaving the hot confines of his mouth. He didn't want to come so soon though so he forced his arms to push Sinbad gently off him through the immense pleasure and the teenager complied with the sultriest smirk he could have managed.

Sinbad pushed Judi off himself as well and marvelled at the state of both his lovers, panting through sensitive lips and watching him expectantly with lust filled, half lidded eyes.

'Was that not good?' Judi asked breathless.

'It was amazing.' He reassured with a kiss. 'Now it's Ja'far's turn though.'

Ja'far kissed Judi's lips passionately and pressed his tongue to hers, encouraging a sensual dance that fed the fire inside them and extinguished all their oxygen. His hands roamed the expanse of soft skin, marvelling at the similar scars that lathered both their bodies, all of them sensitive, and revelling on the submissiveness of the female role during sex. He quickly became bolder and looked for a nipple to play with and abuse between his fingers. He kissed a path from Judi's mouth, to her chin, down her neck and her collarbone, leaving marks as he went, until he latched onto her other nipple and sucked, teasing her and making her moan in ways the two of them had never heard before.

All the while Sinbad decided to sit back and watch and, boy was he having a show! He stroked his erection languidly while licking his lips. Ja'far's movements became more assertive as time rolled on and Judi, poor girl, didn't even know what to do with the onslaught of sensations and feelings that assaulted her. The image of the pale ex-assassin in all his naked and erect glory kissing his way down Judi's tanned and equally naked and aroused body was giving the teenager a hard time to hold back.

Ja'far laid Judy on the bed to have better access to her vulva. He parted the labia with a wet sound and dared a lick. Not finding it unpleasant at all he became bolder, sucking from time to time and taking great pleasure in the exhaled and broken versions of his name that Judi managed from her pleasure. Judi released a loud moan in between her ragged breaths and pants and her hand tangled in Ja'far's white hair as he lapped happily in between her parted legs. This lasted for a couple of seconds until the ex-assassin retreated and looked at Sinbad with his head tipped to the side and a blush on his cheeks.

'I don't know what to do…'

Sinbad chuckled and moved back to them. He came behind Ja'far and kissed him deeply while he spread his butt cheeks, pressing a fingertip to his puckered entrance, Judi all but out of commission for teaching at the moment.

'She's also got a place like this.' The teenager told him in between kisses. He took Ja'far's hand and sucked on his middle finger while inserting his own into the boy's mouth. The pale male moaned loudly. When he deemed their fingers sleek enough, he kissed Ja'far's neck and guided his hand to Judi's entrance, her labia being parted by tanned digits, pressing in slowly at the same time he entered Ja'far's hot tight anus with his own finger.

Judi whimpered and arched, pressing her hips to them. 'Feel that?'

'I-it's wet…' Ja'far mumbled and exhaled quickly, arching his own body sinuously to try to get Sinbad to move his hand as well. He involuntarily wiggled his finger a bit inside Judi and his actions brought a moan out of her. She covered her face in embarrassment.

Sinbad was having none of that. He leaned forward over Ja'far, making the former assassin's body rest atop Judi's with loud moan and took her hands away from her face. Then he kissed her full on the lips and hooked her arms around Ja'far's neck who lost all ability to talk once again at being sandwiched, all sleek body contact on his oversensitive skin.

'Sin…hurry…'

Both ex-assassins were overwhelmed. This act they'd always loathed and filled them with disgust at their dirtied selves turned out to be so much more. The three of them were inundated with feelings they couldn't even begin to disentangle from all the pleasure their bodies were receiving. It was embarrassing and delicious and everything in between.

Sinbad inserted a second finger into Ja'far's entrance and started the scissoring motions. With a throaty moan, Ja'far also added a second finger into Judi and mimicked Sinbad's ministrations, but he was corrected by Judi. She untangled one arm from behind the white haired male's neck, parted her labia again and touched a finger to her clitoris.

'T-This place feels really g-good when you rub it…'

Ja'far corrected the position of his hand so that it was now with his palm facing up and kneading that spot with the thrusts of his fingers. Judi's breathing accelerated and she returned her arm to Ja'far's neck to hold on as pleasure ravaged her entire body.

Preparation had never felt so long in his very vast sex life and Ja'far was positively aching to be inside that wet hot and very tight passage of muscles that had taken his fingers hostage. He was counting the seconds it would take Sinbad's considerable girth to enter him and fill him up to the brim with white hot pleasure. There was nothing in the world that topped the feeling of being full with his beloved's manhood, their very essence mingling together.

Sinbad had also had enough of waiting so he got a firm hold of Ja'far's leaking erection and rubbed it against Judi's entrance. He kissed her again, swallowing her moans as Ja'far was sandwiched between their very hot bodies once again, wiggling his bottom to get a deep moan out of Sinbad.

'I hope this doesn't hurt, my dears…' Sinbad said.

Judi kissed Sinbad with all her might, a bit of teeth, and a lot of tongue. 'I trust you, my King.' Then she kissed Ja'far much the same way and whimpered as the white haired male pushed forward and broke through the first ring of muscles.

'That's it, slowly…' whispered Sinbad at Ja'far's ear as he also pushed his own erection into the tight space of Ja'far's ass. They stayed put for a while, adjusting and getting their breath back and, fuck was it hard to not just pound away at that heat!

Judi opened her eyes, not even bothering to remember when she had closed them and nodded.

Ja'far got the hint and thrust forward slowly, his movement causing Sinbad's length to slide out of him and then back in when he slid out himself. This slow pace lasted only until Sinbad decided it was enough of slow and tentative. He thrust into Ja'far strong and fast, forcing him into Judi and making them both moan away their pleasure to their hearts content and oh, how he loved those sounds! Judi arched her back and hugged the ex-assassin, hiding her face in the crook of his neck where she would suck and bite occasionally, unintentionally marking his pale skin. Ja'far was breathing and moaning into Judi's ear with Sinbad's hand tangled on his hair, almost pulling him back.

Ja'far was the first one to come undone with a loud shout, not used to so much stimulation, spending himself inside Judi's clamping walls as she orgasmed not a second later. Sinbad gave a few odd thrusts before he too was pushed over the edge with a guttural moan.

The trio collapsed on the bed and the boys rolled over each side of Judy, sandwiching her between their sweaty hot bodies. The only sounds in the room were those of the random kisses here and there and on kiss swollen lips, the sound of their heavy breaths and according to them, the sound of their hearts beating in the same rhythm and frequency.

'You better take responsibility for making me enjoy sex…' Judi muttered bashfully at the both of them.

Sinbad smiled and turned on his side to look at her, his head resting on the palm of his hand as he used his elbow for support. His other hand tracing random patterns on Judi's stomach, making her twitch now and again. On her other side, Ja'far assumed the same position, bringing Judi's face to his own to touch their foreheads together.

'Usually Sinbad's the one good with the words…but we both like you. A lot. So please, stay with us?'

Judi smiled, gave a breathy laugh and kissed Ja'far again. 'I wouldn't leave for the world!' She then turned to kiss Sinbad. 'I want to become your future citizen…'

'I can do better than that.' Sinbad said lacing their fingers together over Ja'far's hand on Judi's stomach. 'I want you to use the power you have to help me fight the conflicts of the world.'

'I swear to follow you, future King Sinbad, down whatever path you may go.' Judi answered promptly and without a shadow of hesitation.

'Well said!'

Laughter filled the room as the Sinbad tackled his lovers and started a naked wrestling match that led them to yet another round of steamy lovemaking and they kept on going until they could no longer fight the exhaustion off.

Finally spent but incredibly happy the trio fell asleep tangled in each other's embraces and woke up naked and sated and almost embarrassingly glowing, but that's alright, since the only ones who could tell were Hinahoho, who knew, and Masrur thanks to his Fanalis good hearing.

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Thirteen years later, on a Maharajan's Night, Sinbad was standing by his bed chambers' window in the Purple Leo Tower, counting his blessings and smiling as he put on the last of his metal vessels in preparation for the festivities. He smiled when there was a knock on the door, announcing the arrival of Judi.

'I was sent to get you, King Sinbad. Your guests await you.' She declared with a smile, leaning by the doorframe with her hand on her curvy hip. She had indeed grown up beautifully, just as she promised she would.

Sinbad grabbed her by the waist and kissed her deeply as they both chuckled.

'Ja'far is going to be worried.' Judi pointed out, leaning against Sinbad sultrily.

'Why don't we wait for him then?' Sinbad suggested.

Not two minutes had passed when there was another knock at the door announcing the arrival of the previously mentioned man. He was promptly pulled inside by a pair of hands and enveloped in a two way hug with lips landing indiscreetly all over his skin.

'Honestly, why do they keep sending us both up here to get his majesty is beyond my understanding…' Ja'far commented, not resisting at all the advances of his two lovers. Usually he was the one to "escort" his majesty when he got side tracked, so his record of wins against his King's libido wasn't so bad, but facing both Sinbad and Judi was an insurmountable errand. _Everyone_ knew this. They had to be doing it for the fun of it…

They made use of the time they had before someone else was sent up to get them all to go down. In all the years they'd been together, through thick and thin, they had grown to be inseparable, they were each other's strong points and they all secretly, but not secretly strived to never become a weakness to each other, they would never be a liability.

'Masrur…' Ja'far breathed.

'Mas' coming…' Judi sighed a fraction of a second later.

Sinbad smiled. _Seriously, these two…_ 'You two need to stop doing that….' He mock complained.

Masrur didn't even bother knocking, having heard the two ex-assassins announce his presence. He did, however, try to discern their presence in the room, a futile activity he'd been doing for years.

_It always feels like he's alone._

He didn't have to say anything to them either, since they knew what he was there for so they all obediently followed the young Fanalis down the stairs to greet their guests and face the world.

* * *

 

Alibaba, Morgiana and Aladdin found Sinbad, King of Sindria and the Seven Seas, sitting on a chair completely surrounded by beautiful dancers who were giggling away and begging to sit on his lap. He was wearing his usual attire but was now ornamented with countless jewels of gold and silver. Looking at him were Ja'far, Masrur and Sharrkan.

'Wow.' Alibaba said as he admired the virility of King Sinbad.

Ja'far exhaled his own "Wow." Never ceasing to be surprised.

'Uwaaa! I want to do that too!' Aladdin exclaimed eagerly announcing his presence.

'Ah, you're back Aladdin, Alibaba, I was waiting for you.' The King said joyously and assembled all his eight generals.

The young ones took their seats in front of the King, eager to hear what he'd want to tell them. Sinbad was glowing just as much as they were with the opportunity to have them in his palace.

'I will introduce you the Guardian Deities of Sindria, the Eight Generals, because we did not have the chance to introduce everyone to you.' He pointed at Ja'far, standing behind him in Sindria's official crème bisht with green rims. He wore a deep green keffiyeh with the golden insignia of the Kingdom of Sindria atop his white locks and a ruby drop on his forehead. 'This guy is, you know…'

'I was already introduced in Balbadd.' Ja'far informed while trying not to sound too amused at the drunkenness of Sinbad. He bowed to them with both his hands hidden inside the wide sleeves of his vestments.

'He's Ja'far. Normally he is a parliamentary official. Even if he looks like this, he is strong because he is an expert in a unique assassination technique so he will be fit to be your next opponent in your training.'

Ja'far bowed a little uncomfortable with all the attention being on him. 'If you wish that.'

'Masrur is wielding a humongous sword but he is not suitable to become Alibaba's master. When he was little he was a gladiator but he has not practiced swordsmanship and since he stopped doing that, he is quite rusty now.'

If Ja'far looked uncomfortable, then Masrur was about to run away. 'Sorry about that.' Masrur wore a gold plate of armour over a linen light tunic that reached his knees. He wore a linen belt around his waist where said humongous sword was tucked into. On both his arms, tucked between his muscles were two thin armbands and his wrists and ankles were decorated with twin gold cuffs. He also had a piercing, nested neatly between his bottom lip and his chin.

Then a blue haired giant appeared behind them surrounded by equally enormous children yapping happily about having sake and other such things. They were all wearing similar styles of clothing made out of thick furs and leathers. The tall man had a head band with a type of horn tucked in it. His long hair was tied in a high ponytail. His torso was bare for the exception of a white wide scarf draped around his shoulders. His arms were decorated with blue fur armbands and cuffs and he wore a string of fangs attached to a fur belt. Sinbad continued his explanation, naming each person with thinly veiled affection:

'One of the Imuchakk warriors of the Extreme North's unexplored region, Hinahoho, he has a gigantic physique, but every one of his race is like that so, don't mind him.'

After Hinahoho, Sinbad pointed at a green dragon wearing a red cape and a white dhoti. He had a red earring on his left ear. A beautiful woman was standing next to him.

'He is a former soldier of the Partevia Empire, Drakon. He has the appearance of a dragon, but he was originally a human and a sincere man. There is no need to be frightened. He also has a beautiful wife.'

At that point Alibaba had to physically restrain Aladdin, pulling him by the braid and shouting at him because "YOU CANNOT DO THAT TO A MARRIED WOMAN!" As beautiful as the lady was, it would be bad news if the little runt took hold of her…assets…

Laughing at their display along with the rest of the people, Sinbad pointed at the blue haired witch they had previously met, still wearing Sindria's official crème attire and sea shells for bra: 'Yamuraiha from Magnoshutatt.'

Then pointing at the white haired swordsman with the chain around his neck they had also met before he said: 'Sharrkan from Heliohapt.'

Both were fighting again, pulling at hair and cheeks like a pair of squabbling children. There was a little blonde girl laughing at the fighting duo who Sinbad introduced as: 'Pisti from Artemyra.' The girl was dressed in a pink silk, short and very revealing overall on top of which also rested the official Sindrian robe.

And finally he pointed at a red haired man covered in armour and a turban to who the little girl, Pisti, was talking to as she pointed at quarrel between the mage Yamuraiha and the swordsman Sharrkan: 'Spartos from Sasan.'

Sinbad looked back at his guests with a wide smile and continued his explanation, undoubtedly proud of the men and women he just introduced to the youngsters: 'They are members of the Royal Family of my allied countries that I had to give refuge to, for one reason or another, or people that cannot remain in their country for personal reasons and now live in Sindria.'

Aladdin then pointed at a white haired woman dressed in a white harem skirt, red sleeveless top and the official Sindrian crème coloured robe, tied up at the waist showcasing her sizeable cleavage. She had a ruby drop on her forehead, three gold earrings on her ears, her arms were covered in gold mismatched bracelets and a gold bangle rested around her ankle. 'Is she also a General, Uncle Sinbad?'

Sinbad smiled wide, blinked an eye at the woman and introduced her: 'This is Judi. She's not a General since she's got her own djinn and household members, but she does pretty much the same as the Eight Generals. She's in charge of writing the Sindrian laws.'

Judi flashed them a wide cheeky grin. 'Nice to meet ya!'

'Alibaba, they probably are people that resemble you.'

These words left the young Balbadd prince to his thoughts of the events that transpired in his country with the fog troupe. He admired the people around him that lived circumstances such as his and lived together in harmony. He could not stop the smile that bloomed on his face at seeing Pisti and Sinbad setting Spartos with one of the beautiful dancers. The man probably didn't like women though because he looked quite uncomfortable.

Drakon called King Sinbad from the middle of Hinahoho's kids and Sinbad could see his human self smiling at him even though he was a dragon now. 'It is good to play with women, but you will never change your mind and marry a woman, right?'

'Yeah, he is right, Sinbad!' Hinahoho agreed also sporting a very big knowing grin he didn't lose throughout the years. 'It is good to have brats around, you should have a lot of them too!'

Sinbad smiled and grabbed his drink. 'What are you saying? Even if I don't have children, I have a lot of citizens that are a part of my own family.'

This statement got the King a mighty roar of agreement from his people, surprising even his Generals, his friends. All around the shouted wish for blessings for King Sinbad and Sindria could be clearly heard and then a man announced the end of the festival which meant fireworks.

While the guests were marvelling at the fireworks, Sinbad stood from his chair and retreated to the side lines where his white haired lovers received him with a chaste kiss when they thought nobody was watching. Ja'far also pinching his cheek, annoyed at the quantity of women he'd been fooling around with before. Their happiness, however, was witnessed by the caring eyes of those who swore an oath to follow that bright and strong man called Sinbad, King of Sindria and the Seven Seas.


End file.
